Re:Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting soluti...
by Florin_Andrei on Monday April 24, 2017 @07:35PM
(#14189441)
I'm guessing everyone assumed that was a purely mechanical process - i.e. they just make holes. Lots of critters make holes in lots of things.
Digesting the polymer OTOH - that's a bit of a paradigm shift.
EDIT: It just occurred to me that both wax and plastic bag polymers are large chains of carbon with some hydrogen hanging off the edges. Perhaps it should not be so surprising that wax worms can digest that polymer.
EDIT2: Nevermind, that was in the article, I didn't read the whole thing.
Digesting the polymer OTOH - that's a bit of a paradigm shift.
EDIT: It just occurred to me that both wax and plastic bag polymers are large chains of carbon with some hydrogen hanging off the edges. Perhaps it should not be so surprising that wax worms can digest that polymer.
EDIT2: Nevermind, that was in the article, I didn't read the whole thing.