All articles tagged with #human wildlife interaction
Two Current Biology papers show that North American bears and mountain lions actively avoid humans: bears retreat from human voices and vehicle sounds while foraging along salmon streams, and mountain lions anticipate and dodge areas and times with heavy human activity based on GPS data and Strava patterns, suggesting that human behavior shapes a landscape of fear and can promote coexistence with carnivores.
Two studies find North American bears and mountain lions actively avoid humans, explaining the rarity of attacks. Bears retreat more when hearing human voices and engines than gulls, while mountain lions anticipate busy human activity and steer clear of trails, suggesting humans shape a landscape of fear that reduces encounters and has ecosystem ripple effects, highlighting pathways to coexistence.
Researchers studying 230 Barbary macaques in Gibraltar found those with more access to tourists’ calorie-dense snacks eat dirt about 12 times a week, suggesting geophagy buffers the digestive impact of high-calorie, low-fiber junk food and may aid gut bacteria; the behavior is more common in seasons with more tourists and is absent in groups with no tourist access.
A new global study using wildlife cameras challenges the belief that wild animals thrived during pandemic lockdowns, revealing that human absence during lockdowns led to varied effects on wildlife. The study found that while some animals, such as carnivores and those in remote areas, became more active, others, like large herbivores and urban animals, were less active. This highlights the complex and nuanced ways in which human activity impacts wildlife, emphasizing the need for diverse conservation efforts tailored to different species' responses to human presence.
A woman attempts to move a mountain lion from the road using a broomstick, but the animal becomes agitated and chases her away. Mountain lions are powerful predators known for their speed and agility, and while they typically avoid human interaction, they can attack if threatened. The woman's actions demonstrate a lack of understanding of the dangers posed by mountain lions. The animal appears to be injured and unable to move off the road.
A black bear entered a bakery garage in Connecticut and scared employees before helping itself to 60 cupcakes. The bear charged at an employee who shouted to scare it off, but it retreated and came back three times. The bear was finally scared off by a car horn. There were no injuries, but the incident is one of several recent troubling interactions between black bears and humans in Connecticut. The state has seen a record number of reports of bears entering homes this year.