Wildlife scientists around the world are planning to investigate how animal behaviours have been affected by the slowdown in human activity during lockdown. The research aims to reveal how increases in human movements over the past decades have impacted animals - and to identify locations where mitigating technologies such as wildlife corridors may be needed. A previous study on species movements found that those living in areas where there is a high human impact move a half to a third as much as their counterparts living in areas with little human interference. They have already started updating a 2018 study of animal movements, which focused on 803 individuals from 50 species including lions, Asian elephants, reindeer, black bears and foxes. A paper published last week in the journal of Biological Conservation also called for global studies of animal movements during and after lockdown in order to 'produce unexpected insights'.

Source: Daily Mail June 23, 2020 11:24 UTC