Why City Birds Love Cigarettes

Prepare yourself for a future helping us all get what we eat in a more environmentally sustainable way with an Online Graduate Certificate in Food Policy and Sustainability Leadership asuonline.asu....
Urban birds like house finches and house sparrows are great at finding materials to repel pests and parasites from their nests. Unfortunately, one of those materials is used cigarette butts.
Hosted by: Hank Green (he/him)
----------
Support us for $8/month on Patreon and keep SciShow going!
/ scishow
Or support us directly: complexly.com/...
Join our SciShow email list to get the latest news and highlights:
mailchi.mp/sci...
----------
Huge thanks go to the following Patreon supporters for helping us keep SciShow free for everyone forever: DrakoEsper , Friso, Garrett Galloway, Kenny Wilson, J. Copen, Lyndsay Brown, Jeremy Mattern, Jaap Westera, Rizwan Kassim, Christoph Schwanke, Jeffrey Mckishen, Harrison Mills, Eric Jensen, Matt Curls, Chris Mackey, Adam Brainard, Ash, Sam Lutfi, You too can be a nice person, Piya Shedden, charles george, Alex Hackman, Kevin Knupp, Chris Peters, Kevin Bealer, Jason A Saslow
----------
Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet?
SciShow Tangents Podcast: scishow-tangen...
TikTok: / scishow
Twitter: / scishow
Instagram: / thescishow
Facebook: / scishow
#SciShow #science #education #learning #complexly
----------
Sources: docs.google.co...

[@SciShow]

Prepare yourself for a future helping us all get what we eat in a more environmentally sustainable way with an Online Graduate Certificate in Food Policy and Sustainability Leadership asuonline.asu.edu/online-degree-programs/certificates/sustainable-food/?ecd22=02&

[@jasonh6919]

What am I missing here? I can't post a link but a simple web search will reveal the root source of these snippets. What is cellulose acetate? Cellulose acetate is a biomass material produced by chemically modifying hydroxyl groups with acetic acids in cellulose materials derived from nonedible parts of plants, such as wood fibers and cotton. ... Cellulose acetate is highly biodegradable in soil and seawater.[1-4] Generally speaking, cellulose acetate is degraded into cellulose and acetic acid through hydrolysis with water and biodegradation by esterase. Subsequently, the main chain of cellulose is biodegraded (cleaved/decomposed) by cellulase and is eventually converted into water and carbon dioxide. Plants bearing wood and cotton produce cellulose with water and carbon dioxide, thus forming the life cycle of cellulose acetate. (Figure 2)

[@jesipohl6717]

never toss your butts on the ground folks!

[@JosephDavies]

Not a fan of putting the ad in the middle of the video instead of the end. I'm sure you have your reasons, but please reconsider.

[@ikbintom]

The ad was way too large a part of the video

[@JaSon-wc4pn]

I've seen a nest made from a purple cardigan

[@mastershooter64]

The title and thumbnail made me think birds just started smoking unfinished cigarettes on the ground

[@nicholaslee722]

City life's stressful

[@ddSqueeze]

No, that’s the next step in the situational evolution.

[@borttorbbq2556]

I've seen a smoker pigeon.

[@RebelRosers]

That was a male sparrow he called Mama

[@MariaMartinez-researcher]

I thought they made it to attract mates... "chicks." 😂

[@SoulDragonWithFlow]

Non-Smoker here and I genuinely did not know those filters were plastic; I assumed they were paper, cotton or some other fiber. Learn a bonus new thing along with all the other cool stuff from this video. Thanks, SciShow.

[@lashadi1445]

You *can* still buy cotton filters to roll your own...

[@cggc9510]

It is actually quite common that people don't know this. I've known since the 80s but that was because I asked why they don't burn. I tried to set one on fire and eventually got it to melt, but not smolder. Plastic melts not burns. Conclusion, the butts are made from plastic.

[@HIRAMECLARKEHOPS]

​@@lashadi1445okay...

[@anneboyd7811]

I also have bad news about teabags...

[@kellydalstok8900]

@@anneboyd7811 the pyramid ones, not the ordinary ones that compost just fine. Well, in Europe they do, I don’t know about American ones.

[@awsomebot1]

It's crazy that we had to change plastic straws and all... but cig butts are a greater problem and people dont even REALISE its plastic.

[@tomlxyz]

The fuzz about plastic straws never made sense to me. Everything is packaged in plastic nowadays but this one small thing, the straw, which isn't even necessary to consume liquids get replaced with a different material

[@ShadowManceri]

Thing with straws isn't the plastic itself, but the fact that they are long sticks that end up in sea and in a mouth of animals. It doesn't always come out like a filter. Same problem with plastic can pack holders. They get stuck around head. But yes, filters should be made out of something like paper.

[@MrFuckingKololo]

​@@ShadowManceriplastic straws are a complete non-issue compared to the real problem - fishing nets. Vast majority of plastic pollution of oceans is just fishing nets, it's what the Greta garbage patch is made up of, it's what kills vast majority of marine wildlife, it's the second highest source of microplastics after the car tires. All the buzz about plastic straws is just another campaign to shift the blame for destruction of our environment away from the corporations.

[@badart3204]

@@ShadowMancerithat’s why you gotta eat the straws to save the turtles. Macroplasticmaxxing

[@LordLux]

Meanwhile the private jet above you:

[@jensalan]

I never liked when people threw cigarette butts on the ground. Knowing they're made of plastic makes it so much worse.

[@sunshine3914]

A smoker told me, way back in 1980, that it would take over 100 years for a cigarette filter to decompose.

[@kitefan1]

I lived in an apartment where the man across the parking lot would go outside to smoke and throw his but on the ground. The landlord make him clean it up.

[@KesSharann]

@@sunshine3914 Plastic doesn't decompose. It just breaks into smaller bits of plastic. This is not decomposition.

[@JaysonBicBoi]

Where I want them to put it? I. Their pockets?

[@100GTAGUY]

Theres also fiberglass filters which essentially take forever to break down as well and they irritate and injure animals in their own ways (fiberglass is just nasty to be around), some brands have however moved to more sustainable paper filters. Granted that doeant mean smokers should feel better about tossing em all willy nilly, littering is still littering. As a smoker myself i cant stand the litter bug smokers, they make us all look like asses. Its my own nasty habit but i prefer not to burden others with secondhand smoke and litter, so ill happily go for a lil jaunt and find an ashtray/smokers pole or garbage can on my way back.

[@abhigyanraj7302]

Am I the only one who didn't know cigarette butts were made of plastic?

[@soundspark]

Check your litter laws too.

[@jeffbenton6183]

Maybe it's because I live in Cali, but a year or two ago, videos I watched on KZbin were inundated with ads from a non-profit seeking to raise awareness on the issue (we Californians aren't known for smoking addiction, but I promise you: every beach I've ever been to is chock-full evidence that people use the whole beach as their ashtray) I also had a bunch of friends in college who were heavy smokers - though I, myself, never smoked - so I had frequent opportunity to examine the anatomy of a cigarette and notice that those fibers were indeed plastic of some kind, because I'm a weirdo like that.

[@jeffbenton6183]

Just to clarify, it's made *with* plastic, not *of* plastic. The outer layer is just paper (I think). It's only a part in the filter that's made of a cotten-esque mess of plastic fibers.

[@Hurricayne92]

@@jeffbenton6183 I mean we humans have been using plasitic fibres for decades

[@sunshine3914]

I believe it was “True” brand that was completely plastic, in sorta the shape of a peace ☮️ sign

[@orinblank2056]

The butts are awful. When I was smoking, they were always a nuisance because I refuse to litter. Then you have to carry around a smelly cigarette butt until you can throw it away. The worst though is when you find one while hiking. You can be up in the most gorgeous area of nature, then look down and see an orange cigarette butt on the ground. It always made me so irritated. I pick up any of them that I encounter

[@mcv2178]

Thanks!

[@marcellachine5718]

And I toss litter everywhere hoping people like you pick it up and feel better about yourselfers.

[@usakousa]

I always carry a portable ashtray as, like you, don't want to litter. It can cause microplastic to go into the drain and back into the tap water.

[@subspace666]

butt litter doesn't matter to me really i had no problem getting rid of them anywhere outside but what did worry me a bit was starting a fire if i was in the wilderness so i made sure they were out. these days the best place to get rid of them outside is in the street (pavement) assuming no ashtray is around, since most modern city clean the street often in the morning with specialized trucks.

[@mehere8038]

@@subspace666 smh! Can't believe you think that is all rational! This is why it's a criminal offence to drop butts in Australia during fire bans & heavy fines the rest of the time, that's in addition to cigarettes costing over $1 each & bins being located at regular intervals on streets, particularly near bus stops etc, with bins having a special section for butts in case they're not fully out (illegal to smoke at bus stops btw, bins are there to dispose of the butt on arrival, not to light up while waiting)

[@BL3446]

Did anyone else think that they were a paper product?

[@Keithustus]

They feel like compressed cotton so that’s what I thought they were.

[@KILLRXNOEVIRUS]

Cuz Marketing strategies to hide how horrible smoking really is.

[@dragonsdynamite6403]

No.

[@BL3446]

@@dragonsdynamite6403 Thanks for polling everyone else for me. That's networking I don't have access to.

[@SoulDragonWithFlow]

yeahup. I assumed either paper or cotton fiber. I was wrong.

[@bglas8562]

😭 thank you for telling me that they're plastic. Someone told me they're cotton or something. Going to be way more careful with my butts and be more diligent on stopping smoking

[@Mike__B]

Why should what they are made of make you be more careful about things? If you had a half eaten sandwich would you just throw that on the ground because you're done with it? Even if cigarette butts are made of cotton you shouldn't throw your trash on the ground acting like everything from nature immediately degrades into the ground.

[@petern.j.4121]

@@Mike__B throwing a sandwich on the ground is literally what many people do, on purpose, to feed city birds. Where do you live for that to be frowned upon?

[@thenovicewildcamper9192]

Roll and Roach your own all the way

[@brianmichael7102]

That’s also not smoke on our filters. That’s a chemical reaction like an apple browning to make smokers feel like the filters are effective. Not all that much

[@borttorbbq2556]

Camel uses cotton. Several others do too

[@4RILDIGITAL]

It's astonishing how urban wildlife is adapting to human-related pollution, even capitalizing on its harmful aspects for survival.

[@LosPalms]

HELL YESSSS

[@amynoah1621]

My grandparents used to feed tobacco leaves to their goats, sheep, horses and cattle for parasites.

[@Demonoid1990]

I remember when I was a teen we used to feed our farm cats raw ground beef balls with a little pipe tobacco stuffed in the center. It seemed to do a good job of treating them for worms. It is was an age old practice we learned from the local generational farms around the area.

[@Darwinpasta]

I remember reading an old army (?) manual suggesting eating the contents of a couple of cigarettes to get rid of intestinal parasites.

[@Fehrium]

@@DarwinpastaDo not eat tobacco unless you want to have a trip to the hospital, it is toxic when digested.

[@SmarteeeSteve]

Maybe a nibble. But eating the amount of nicotine and tobacco in 2 cigarettes could be enough to be poisonous

[@commanderjameson2708]

Garlic is also good for this. I remember reading about a guy stuck in the wilderness somewhere who got a bad case of worms. He cured himself by eating a quantity of raw garlic.

[@Hytheter]

@@commanderjameson2708 Wouldn't use that for a cat though, as garlic is quite toxic to them.

[@handeggchan1057]

City birds are so cool though, you gotta admit.

[@FusionC6]

even cooler now

[@borttorbbq2556]

Pigeons are life

[@hippymoustacherides]

All the cool birds are doing it.

[@handeggchan1057]

@@FusionC6 nothing cooler than a pigeon or raven huffing down a delicious, satisfying Marlboro Red.

[@IrisGlowingBlue]

They just need sunglasses and little bird-shaped leather jackets

[@Rubrickety]

Thus SciShow continues its long obsession with butts.

[@samandom8772]

Butt is legs

[@aoifedeborha2420]

The fact that most of us only knew the cancerous properties of smoking says quite a bit about the advertising of tobacco 😂

[@aoifedeborha2420]

@@anajeckel well, nobody tells us that the nicotine can get rid of ticks and stuff, and literally nobody in the comments knew that cigarettes were made of plastic, so we’re told how bad they are for our health but not how they can be awful for the environment 🤷‍♀️

[@Rockzilla1122]

I mean they probably should spread awareness that its a common plastic pollutant, but I don't think the insectocidal properties of nicotine are that important for public health awareness.

[@mcspikesky]

​​@@aoifedeborha2420 anecdotally, smokers get ill less but worse when they do. Bro science led me to this conclusion.. because like killing cancer, poison in the right amount keeps out the weaker entities..

[@subspace666]

@@aoifedeborha2420 yea we seem to get fixated only to the negative stuff and seems birds see benefits as well. most smokers know its bad for the environment to some degree but what are we to do other then maybe quit. for non smokers it doesn't really matter for them to know or not if its bad since they are not the ones littering them and you can't force people to be environment friendly, well you shouldn't be able to force them in a free world anyway. in practice smokers will pollute less then non smokers in their lifetime since they die early often by more then a decade and butts are a tiny culprit compared to our other destructive habits, living an extra day to drive your semi truck probably pollutes more then 500 butts maybe even by factors.

[@mathnerd97]

And even that bit of information took some major court battles and massive information campaigns to become common knowledge

[@Evergreen64]

I can picture a bird coming up to you and saying "Hey man. You got a smoke?"

[@rogierbesselink7285]

At the company where i work, the birds don't bother bringing the sigatettes to the nest, they just built their nest inside the metal ashtray that is attached to the building 😂

[@tomlxyz]

What happens when a smoker comes around?

[@rogierbesselink7285]

@@tomlxyz the is a note now that there are birds inside , but that wasn't the case 2 years ago. A collegue put a cigarette inside the ash recipient and a few minutes later she saw a bird flying out. She was a bit chocked by this but the bird and her babies seem to be fine. Since then we placed a note there warning people about the birds.

[@martinstyppa9941]

Few weeks ago a crow crossed my path with a packet and still some in it. I was baffled.

[@lashadi1445]

Was he holding the pack in their beak?

[@dinoflame9696]

@@lashadi1445 or in his hands?

[@aramisortsbottcher8201]

Some people train crows to gather coins, maybe some smoker lets it gather cigs XD

[@Spearca]

​@@dinoflame9696 Crows don't have hands. The packet was in his breast pocket.

[@TheRealInscrutable]

I'm now picturing songbirds that sound more like Rod Stewart.

[@clifforddean232]

The first drag is the deepest, oh baby I know that the first drag is the deepest.

[@user-xy6gm6ug5c]

I found out that my yard is the hotspot for birds. Did you know birds eat & feed their babies kitten chow? I get doorbell alerts all day because the birds empty my cats bowl everyday & take the food back to their nests in my trees.

[@Keithustus]

So you’re turning kitten chow into cat chow, very slowly.

[@cassieoz1702]

I guess not surprising. I didn't know cuz my car's not allowed outside

[@mehere8038]

@@cassieoz1702 nice to see a responsible cat owner for once :)

[@sarah.s.flanagan]

Cigarette butts are the most littered object in the world

[@cvp5882]

It's just one tiny little butt... Until there's 10 trillion of them

[@belstar1128]

alternative title Why City Dinosaurs Love Cigarettes

[@tomlxyz]

Or: Why city dinosaurs raise their offspring with cigarettes

[@gunslinger2566]

For the chicks.

[@AhnafMardia]

😂😂😂😂

[@FusionC6]

hell ya brother!

[@lazrseagull54]

The seagull who lives on my roof came in through the window and stole the sponge out of my sink!

[@Katiethekitten]

😂

[@fiddley]

I live in London and I was walking along one of the canal paths one day and saw a rather large nest made substantially with McDonalds straws...

[@DesiSourdough]

Birds are just built different

[@younggoatt]

agreed

[@360.Tapestry]

i mean... hollow bones for one

[@pabailon8799]

Well, they are not real to begin with 🫤

[@younggoatt]

@@pabailon8799 look up shoebill stork

[@mehere8038]

@@pabailon8799 to begin with they were, only in more recent times were they swapped out for mechanical spy drones

[@Elongated_Muskrat]

They learned from prison economics

[@clifforddean232]

Yard Birds. Ex jail birds.

[@clifforddean232]

Genetic traits like picking up cigarette butts for nest making is sad when you realize that such traits don't happen over night but over generations. They never stood a chance at the height of big tobacco companies when smoking was all the rage and doctors would peddle cigarettes to patients.

[@urrywest]

Actually I dont think it takes millions of years of evolution for them to get these ideas. My impression is that they have a limitited number of responses trained by millions of years and that there is something about the properties of the buts that they identify as something usful and instinct does the rest.

[@l0lLorenzol0l]

Crow: "Aw yeah, muthafucking newports! God muthafucking damn!"

[@KeithDvorak]

they should consider testing predators (cats, hawks, etc). if mercury concentrates as it goes up the food chain as predators consume infected prey, perhaps the same thing happens here. sure, the bird might not live long enough to worry overly about cancer, but what about animals that eat the birds?

[@woodfur00]

+

[@tomlxyz]

Is there a reason to assume that doesn't happen?

[@KeithDvorak]

not that i’m aware of. it certainly seems possible based on studies we already know; there appears to be a predictable (?) similarity. though i would prefer to discover than assume 👍

[@bruhbruhhh6592]

Yeah this definitely isn't healthy long term

[@patrickday4206]

No it doesn't

[@brian12332]

I already disliked smokers because they're some of the least considerate people on the planet...

[@BuilderBasti]

Not to defend the whole littering and getting addicted thing, but I do get how it is really difficult to stop once one's addicted. Still though, the littering is very ignorant as well as smoking next to others

[@FusionC6]

bro i wont even smoke one cig if im around people who dont smoke. and i pick up all butts. people ive know for years didnt even know i smoked a cig now and a again :P

[@businesszeus6864]

i smoke, not cigarettes, but i have a lot of friends that do, and i have terminated friendships over littering cigarette butts (id like to add that the littering was just the tips of the iceberg with these people. when someone doesn’t have the basic respect to throw trash in a can that’s literally right there, you can be sure they won’t show you any respect either)

[@wmdkitty]

@@BuilderBasti Wouldn't have to litter if they'd bring back public ashtrays.

[@BuilderBasti]

@@wmdkitty Public trash bins are still a thing?

[@limalicious]

I have not watched the video yet, but I am making a prediction: nicotine is an ingredient in some pesticide sprays, I am guessing the cigarettes help keep the nest free of flies and other parasitic or otherwise aggravating insects.

[@SC86Canuck]

Do the smokers care now? When have they ever cared?

[@clifforddean232]

At the doctors office after being told they have cancer.

[@LadyCLR]

Facts ❤ ​@@clifforddean232

[@natepellegrino7974]

so instead of singling out every smoker (includes me) maybe just say something along the lines of "do the people that trash the world care now". Because I promise you that i am very aware of how damaging my vice is and i am sure not to affect anyone or in this case anything with it. just trying to help expand your mind. Not everyone that smokes is evil lol

[@LK-fc9li]

​​@@natepellegrino7974 As someone who used to smoke, I have to agree with you. I knew the butts were plastic and always disposed of them properly. Even sorting them with other plastics, so the garbage plant wouldn't have any trouble with them. No need to shame every smoker for the actions of some.

[@SC86Canuck]

@@natepellegrino7974 It's not just about cigarette butts and the smoke, or the obvious things anyone can see. It is about the entire industry, all of the chemicals put into the manufacturing process to make cigarettes palatable and stop the cigarette from burning up completely when lit. It is about the vast amount of land that is cleared to have farms for tobacco and the people in different parts of the world, (usually poor) who farm it with poor pay and no benefits, the amount of paper used in cigarettes and their cartons. It is also about how the smoking industry in the past bought off scientists to claim that smoking is good for people, it is about how the smoking industry used pop culture to get people into smoking (movies, advertisements, etc.). The amount of corruption that stems from the cigarette industry is staggering. It is funny to me that the oil industry also uses many of the advertising and information falsifying concepts that the smoking industry previously used.

[@macsnafu]

I knew plastic straws were nearly a non-issue, but I'm surprised that the cigarette filters outpace plastic bags. I don't smoke cigarettes, so I'm already not contributing to that issue. So should I take up smoking to help the birds? Or is it enough to leave other people's cigarette butts for the birds instead of throwing them in the trash? I'm kidding, I'm kidding! I'm not going to take up smoking.

[@Wanderer_of_Sol]

So if it does end up being bad for the birds, I know a sure fire way to ban cigarettes fast. I'll just say that I would never anger anyone who's associated with the Migratory Bird Act.

[@subspace666]

it probably isn't bad for them since they are still around to use them so i would assume its a fair trade off and worth it unless we could find a better alternative for them that serves the same function. i wanna give credit to the birds that they might know what they are doing even though we have prejudice against tobacco and plastics.

[@JanosBanics]

Yeah not giving up smoking for bird.

[@macdre2859]

@wanderer_of_sol I’ll throw extra butts on the ground now just to see if I can piss anyone off associated with the migratory bird act 😂

[@dopeymark]

House sparrows are not native birds. In fact they displace native birds.

[@BMW_329]

You can get filter tips made out of biodegradable material with a little seed inside, unfortunately their like $15 for 30 which you'll fly through.

[@walkabout16]

In the concrete maze where shadows drift, City birds find strange gifts, Amid the bustle, dust, and grit, They've learned a secret, a clever fit. House finches chirp in dawn's first light, House sparrows flit in urban flight, In alleys where the day turns night, They seek the remnants of human blight. Discarded on the pavement's edge, Beneath the bench, beside the hedge, A cigarette, a small, charred pledge, Becomes their shield, their fortress ledge. For in those fibers, poisons dwell, A scent repels the pests so well, A tiny, nicotine-laced shell, Protects their nests where hatchlings dwell. In chimneys high and eaves so low, In nests where tender fledglings grow, The toxic thread they weave and stow, A barrier against their foe. Yet, in this tale of urban lore, A paradox lies at the core, For what repels may harm them more, A double-edged tool they implore. City birds, with wisdom keen, Adapt to life in gray unseen, In cigarettes, a cure they glean, From human habits, crude and mean. So as we watch them from afar, These urban warriors, small and marred, Consider how our actions scar, The world they navigate, so hard. In every puff and ash that's cast, A legacy from present to past, City birds have found, steadfast, A way to make our trash their mast.

[@angelitabecerra]

Great poem

[@smashlee6181]

@@angelitabecerra ai bud

[@johanneshalberstadt3663]

By now there should be laws enforcing paper derived cigarette filters. It is ridiculous. And while at it, ban single use "disposable" e-cigarettes/vapes

[@CoreyKearney]

Cellulose Acetate is a paper adjacent product, it is made from plant fibre, it's the same bio plastic Coke uses to green wash disanni water bottles. And no, not all cigarette manufactures use it. Some use cotton, some use fibreglass (those are worse.) Of course those kinds of mitigating facts don't suit the "here's another reason smoking is bad.." narrative Scishow is supporting.

[@suncoastcrafting6362]

The new extra long ad in the middle of the video is irritating. And I spent so much time forwarding past the ad that I lost the point of the video.

[@luisostasuc8135]

1/3 of the video is excessive.

[@JosephDavies]

I agree. I think this is a bad idea for the kind of video that SciShow produces. I hope they don't do this again.

[@woodfur00]

When will they get that if an ad is at the end, I'll let it run while I read the comments, but if it's in the middle I am skipping past that thing with no regrets

[@johnno4127]

I've participated in adopt-a-highway programs, and the worst trash was always the cigarette butts. They're small, hard to pick up, and EVERYWHERE!

[@briandoczahm]

Do smokers get fewer mosquito and tick bites due to being riddled with nicotine?

[@sunshine3914]

Most definitely. But the smoke will help ward mosquitoes off, also.

[@alexanderrosales7675]

Yes mosquitos and flys dont come near me when i smoke cigars outdoors.

[@strawmanfallacy]

Wow didn't know I was early

[@Wolfboy607]

this takes at face value that the filters are doing any filtering, but the brown color on them is largely a chemical reaction in the material itself, only a nominal amount of tar is caught by the filter. "The tobacco industry determined that the illusion of filtration was more important than filtration itself. The pH of the cellulose acetate used is modified, so that its colour becomes darker when exposed to smoke (this was invented in 1953 by Claude Teague, working for R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company)." I smoke, but this wasn't a defense of smoking. It's incredibly dangerous, and it's gross and destructive to yourself and your surroundings, and butt littering is a serious serious issue, but it's serious because of the microplastics and wildfires, let's not get it too twisted. It's not the plant that's evil, but the companies and industry that have sprung up to maximize profit around it. Sounds like a familiar issue.

[@LiezAllLiez]

So, rather than putting the ad at the beginning of the video, where it can be easily skipped, or the end of it, where it can be ignored, youve put in the middle, where ive had to put the effort to look where it ends... good job. =.=

[@MrDasfried]

Nah justskip the video completly. They dont respect your time why should you give it to them anymore.... Most info is told before the add anyway

[@angelitabecerra]

The Sponsors require where the ad placements are. And I hate mid video rolls too 😑

[@hippymoustacherides]

Have you seen the birds that live in Home Depot fly in front of the sensor to open the door!!?? Smart.

[@kitefan1]

🤣When first traveled by train I was impressed by how many birds were in the stations.

[@RebelRosers]

He shoes a male sparrow as mamma

[@paddyoak1]

Shows. Shoes are for the feet.

[@The_Real_Kyrros]

I'm gonna ask a potentially dumb question. How do we know that these birds are not simply addicted in some way to these butts (or something addiction-adjacent?) and then the chicks get hooked on them at an early age since they're also in the nest with the butts for extended times. Sure, the anti-pest chemicals might've attracted them initially, but how do we know there's not some form of chemical dependency forming in current and subsequent generations? To something human-sized, the amount of residual chemicals in butts may be trivial, but what about something bird-sized? What other chemicals besides nicotine might also have addictive qualities in certain animals?

[@sirkowski]

Implying birds are real.

[@clifforddean232]

Flipping Psyops, they're stealing DNA to keep a list of smokers in case they quit.

[@bjbear5202]

Clearly SciShow is part of the conspiracy

[@fugcat]

they updated them to pick up cigs, write a paper to explain it!!!

[@robinita46853]

Lake County just north of Chicago just passed a world class Bird Friendly Building Design Ordinance!

[@Derekzparty]

9/10 finches choose Marlboro

[@natepellegrino7974]

so knowing this information, how can we use this to create something useful for the wildlife that are using these old butts? can we maybe do something like they did in the movie "Bio-Dome" or maybe spin up a fabric maybe and somehow smartly either leave out or disperse said material? We can do something, and im on board. P.S. love your well everything lol

[@kyuofcosmic]

Plant pest repellent plants in your backyard!

[@richardlandrum1966]

When i clicked this video, i was sure it was going to be about R value. I like it when I'm wrong...means i learned

[@heavymetalbassist5]

For some reason I pictured the biodome scene where dude is trying to make a huge air filter from butts

[@Mydigitalepitaph]

If you own a cat, you can help the birds with building materials. Every time you groom your cat, collect the fur. Once you have a golfball sized amount, go to a park or a back garden and place it on a twig in a tree. The birds will soon gather to take away bits of the fur to aid in insulating their nests. I regularly leave my cats fur in our garden for all the birds to freely use.

[@nariu7times328]

I am liking the new sets, still excellent content,

[@lostvisitor]

They outlawed straws why not cigarettes?

[@Poatan.chama.]

Money

[@lostvisitor]

@@Poatan.chama. The rich get it on both ends. Profit from selling the poison then profit from treating those that get sick from the poison.

[@soundspark]

It's illegal to litter cigarette butts in many places.

[@bengoodwin2141]

Unfortunately I don't think that will really work. Better to try to gradually ban cigarettes like new Zealand is doing I think.

[@Brisleep1]

If someone tosses one out of the car window that's moving at 45 mph, you probably wouldn't even see it happen. Unfortunately I've been a passenger when a driver has done this, and I was left wondering what happened to the cigarette.

[@alexrogers777]

And yet cops never actually hold anyone accountable for littering cigarette butts

[@gracequach6769]

GOOD

[@mehere8038]

@@bengoodwin2141 sadly that ban is no longer happening :( Was an obvious, smart idea, wasn't it!

[@desperadodeluxe2292]

I like leaving bits of fabric out to see if animals will take them for their nests. Stick with natural fibers. I noticed birds are attracted to cigarette smoke. You can see them around smokers preening. I thought it was for water repallancy but im realizing it could be that and to reduce parasites. Something to look out for.

[@robert48719]

Well for the question if cigarettes are as bad for birds as for humans I think you would have to get them to smoke them if you want any fair results

[@Brisleep1]

As soon as I saw the title, I knew why they do it.

[@buillioncubes]

I am now imagining a finch watching TV and an advert for a class action lawsuit comes on for birds harmed by contaminated building materials...

[@shawnjohnson7441]

Where are birds finding enough “unsmoked butts” to build whole nests ?

[@angelitabecerra]

Everywhere. Lots of people smoke a few puffs and throw the remnants on the ground. Especially around public transportation where they can't take they're newly it cigarette with them

[@sw20matt]

What exactly do you mean by DNA damage? Does this damage do more harm than the parasites that it keeps away?

[@Aragorn7884]

...because they don't have hands to vape? 😅

[@thechoripankiller]

Weird, a quick google search shows cellulose acetate takes a long as a pair of socks to degrade Aight the video is not about contamination KZbin comment section being the KZbin comment section

[@dr.nug7103]

The bird is the word

[@clifforddean232]

Haven't you heard.

[@castrinecubique983]

Any tips on which parasite repellent plants we can grow in our gardens to give those birds a safer pest control alternative?

[@kyuofcosmic]

Catnip, lemongrass, mint all do a god job of pest repellent

[@castrinecubique983]

@@kyuofcosmic well mint is super easy to grow! thanks for the tip

[@Mrmahicman]

Will make sure I leave all my cigarette butts out now, for the birds!

[@D3MON_KOR3]

I was wondering why my outside ashtray is always empty lol. Maybe they also get addicted to nicotine

[@pedrodepacas-ic1cb]

Cellulose acetate: plasic, yes. Petroleum product, no.

[@Rockzilla1122]

Okay? That doesn't matter or mean anything at all to this. Stop saying this like it means it's not a plastic pollutant.

[@sth.777]

Why do cigarette smokers think it's okay to toss their butts anywhere they choose? I've lost count of the times I've seen a smoker flip their butt out onto the pavement like that's okay.

[@ShotgunLlama]

Me and the boys tossing spent butts at the birds to give them something to put in their nests

[@Keithustus]

@@anajeckelThe slogan is “reduce, re-use, recycle”. Dropping butts complies. Buying more other things doesn’t.

[@Keithustus]

@@anajeckel fair

[@PsRohrbaugh]

Tobacco is not bad for people (besides being addictive). The harmful part is the smoking / vaping. There are not significant health risks for nicotine gum or patches.

[@chef7658]

yeah, nicotine itself is not much different from caffeine. smoking anything is bad. alot of substances are alot less harmful when not smoked.

[@donkeyhobo34]

I don't think the birds are ingesting the bad chemicals in the cigarettes though. Like it's bad for us because we're inhaling it while it's burning

[@Brisleep1]

Swallow a tobacco leaf, the stuff is poisonous, it causes oral cancer all the time.

[@sunshine3914]

Possibly worse for birds, tho, bc of their size & skeleton. Nicotine blocks the action of autonomic nerve & skeletal muscle cells.

[@alecwhatshisname5170]

Fun fact: before plastic became so common, cigarettes were made with biodegradable cork, this is what inspired the pattern on the filter. The filling is also designed to turn brown, to give the illusion it’s filtering more than it is.

[@techheck3358]

💯 and in between cork and plastic, they made it out of asbestos! Crazy

[@RushedAnimation]

Why would they want to get rid of bugs in their nests. They eat bugs.

[@l.m.2404]

Seagulls do not eat insects.

[@Topless_monkey]

Also you eat pasta but you wouldn't want to get into bed and find it there

[@Adam-tu1qx]

The babies are not capable of hunting and are often unattended in the nest.

[@younggoatt]

@@Topless_monkey on my bed or in a bowl on my bed? it'd be like having pasta, that just shows up... i feel an advert coming

[@salemsaberhagan]

I mean, you wouldn't want to use your kids as bait to hunt down a tiger, now would you?

[@deancyrus1]

1:09 it's those wind turbines they've got to look out for 😂

[@pjb4653]

I wonder if they can use vapes lol butts aren't around to much anymore

[@RynaxAlien]

Psychedelics are so much safer and better than alcohol and tobacoo

[@erikfinkel2717]

Which is why I enjoy Lucky Strikes unfiltered

[@aellalee4767]

I tried to tell my mom it's plastic. She always told me I'm wrong. Clearly not.

[@justinr9753]

Take one without the paper and put it in a little acetone and it will turn to liquid.

[@rebeccastolberg2148]

When I was a kid, there were cigarette butts EVERYWHERE. Now I've seen one in the past 3 years.

[@HeyItsDyl]

Where the hell do you live 😢

[@rebeccastolberg2148]

@@HeyItsDyl maybe it's that I moved from Chicago burbs to Atlanta burbs. I smell weed occasionally, but not cigarettes.

[@HeyItsDyl]

@@rebeccastolberg2148 Wild! I could send you pictures at turn arounds on some gravel roads or in like bar parking lots here in CNY and the only debris you’ll see is little white tubes in the gravel all over from the thousands of filters that have been tossed. 😵‍💫

[@DeadHeadAnimation]

100 companies produce 70% of pollution... But sure, let's blame people who smoke cigarettes. Absolute nonsense.

[@ryanreedgibson]

You were wrong about one aspect of the chemicals that cause DNA damage or cause cancer. Nicotine, while addictive, doesn't cause damage to DNA or cause cancer. It's the tar and other chemicals in the filter that do.

[@koreywilliams4570]

I thought they were eating them and getting addicted. 😐

[@SheenaReine]

i don’t smoke anymore, but when i found out they weren’t compostable, i stopped tossing them. i used to keep a can in my car, and if walking, butt them on the ground, poor liquid on it, and throw in nearest trash can/in my purse.

[@SheenaReine]

does the course work for canadian? or is it just usa?

[@wavion2]

It pisses me off when I see people throwing cigarette butts out their car/truck windows.

[@soltersortna]

Do the birds get addicted to them too? There was an very old orangutan named Amanda at the zoo I worked at that was addicted to cigarettes. She would beg people for them by holding out her hands (it was an open pit kind of exhibit, so people would throw them in for her). Smoking was banned on grounds a long time ago but if she spots a rule breaker she would still beg for them. Old habits are hard to break! She has since passed (though not from lung cancer, just normal old age).

[@pinkace]

Many cigarettes use cotton filters now. The brand I smoke does.

[@thesausagecontinuim1971]

we should use HEMP instead!!!!!!!!!

[@CAUGHH]

Never would’ve thought the similarity between me and Bird would be that both of our childhood home smell like cigarettes.

[@_ruddegar]

I think my mom tried to do the same thing, but to keep non-smoking parents away.

[@qwaqwa1960]

Why is Josef called Tuna???

[@Beryllahawk]

I'm wondering if there are things we can do in cities - to both encourage smokers to get their butts into the trash (pardon that phrasing, I couldn't come up with better), AND to perhaps provide different sources for nesting material. Could we maybe place shredded paper - plain ol' office trash - into locations near bird feeders? Would that even work? I'm just thinking that, if we're gonna clean up our act, we're also going to be removing a material the birds have somewhat come to "expect" to find. And it'd be good if we could make sure baby birds are still getting a good chance at life, you know?

[@NathanaelNewton]

As a former smoker, I can tell you that anyone who has accidentally lit a cigarette backwards is acutely aware of the fact that the filters are indeed plastic... **shudders**

[@betofrotag1262]

Thanks for your work. Not a joke, but once I witnessed a bird dropping a JOINT/ DOPE rolled cigarette , the bird came back and picked up. I couldn't believe it 😮.

[@Ruffle_RAGE]

2:13 ticks are arachnids. Also, @SciShow I’m a huge fan of your channel! Y’all helped a lot when I was researching for my invertebrate zoology project! 🎉

[@WayfaringAmoeba]

Cigarette butts should really not be made out of plastic. Obviously plastic butts are bad for the environment. I don't think smokers are happy to have a mouth full of micro plastics fill their lungs. It makes cigarettes ever so slightly cheaper to produce... but that's kind of a bad thing. Screw bannjng plastic straws, focus on regulating cigarette butts.

[@Batlas]

Speaking of ASU. The number of people ive seen flicking still lit cigarettes in Az is mind blowing. We have several man made wildfires a year and the thought of flicking a still lit cigarette out the window and into a tinderbox of dry vegetation... well the consequences never cross their mind apparently. People suck.

[@Bronzeserpent91]

Ex smoker here. So sorry for littering butt's. I was so sure they were cotton and paper. Had no idea any plastic was involved. If I could go back... well I wouldn't start smoking.