Writing in the journal, the scientists describe how the storks from Germany were clearly affected by the presence of waste sites, with four out of six birds that survived for at least five months overwintering on rubbish dumps in northern Morocco, instead of migrating to the Sahel.

While many birds travelled along well-known routes to warmer climates, others stopped short and spent the winter on landfills, feeding on food waste, and the multitudes of insects that thrive on the dumps.

They join the storks from Germany on rubbish dumps in Morocco.

They gradually lose the habit of migrating in winterThey prefer rubbish dumps far away to those at home.

They are not attracted to the rubbish dumps on their migration routes.

Massive rubbish dumps and sprawling landfills constitute one of the more uncomfortable impacts that humans have on wildlife.

In the short-term, the birds seem to benefit from overwintering ( ' , 過冬) on rubbish dumps.

Andrea Flack of the Max Planck Institute found that birds following traditional migration routes were more likely to die than German storks that flew only as far as northern Morocco, and spent the winter there on rubbish dumps.

But before you dump all of your retail stocks, there are more facts you should consider.

They want to make their customers interested in preserving their products and preventing things that still have value from going to the garbage dump.