When pandemic lockdowns kept people at home in early 2020, wild mammals roamed more freely, reveals a large global study recently published in the journal Science. The study used data from location-tracking tags attached to 2,300 animals from 43 species, including giant anteaters in Brazil, reindeer in Norway and Asian elephants in Myanmar.
In places with the most stringent confinements, long-distance movements of the animals over a 10-day period increased by 73 percent, suggesting they traveled greater distances and expanded their habitats. “The animals were able to go about their business without having to worry about where the humans were.”said Marlee Tucker, an ecologist at Radboud University in the Netherlands and an author of the study.
However, on shorter time scales, mammals seemed more inclined to stay where they were; their maximum travel distances in any given hour were shorter than in 2019. That could be a sign that the animals were less likely to run into people or cars that caused them to flee.
The findings provide further evidence that many wildlife change their behavior, and quickly, when the cars disappear. That could mean that even temporary limits on traffic — in critical habitats during breeding or migration seasons, for example — can benefit animals, Tucker said.
The researchers compared the movements of land mammals during the initial lockdowns, that began between February 1 and April 28, 2020, with their movements during the same period of 2019. Although the While the researchers discovered some general trends, they also documented great variability, with stronger effects in certain species and regions than others.
The sudden global decrease in human movement following the arrival of Covid-19 is sometimes referred to as the “anthropause.” Scientists have used it to learn more about how humans affect the natural world and what happens when they disappear.
The new study is a product of the Covid-19 Biological Record Initiative, which began in 2020. More than 600 researchers have contributed more than 1 billion location records for about 13,000 animals from 200 species, said Christian Rutz, an ecologist at the behavior at the University of St. Andrews, in Scotland, and chair of the initiative.
The researchers are now interested in investigating whether wild mammals reverted to their previous movement patterns when humans returned to normal activities.
emily anthes
THE NEW YORK TIMES
BBC-NEWS-SRC: http://www.nytsyn.com/subscribed/stories/6778199, IMPORTING DATE: 2023-06-26 22:00:07
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