When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the world, people turned to nature. This has caused wild animals to become less active. This is shown by research conducted by the Swedish University of Agriculture (SLU). The research shows that when the restrictions disappeared and everything opened up again, the animals returned, especially at night.
Learning more about how different animals react to human activity could help us coexist, says Tim Hofmeister, a researcher at SLU and co-author of the study. SLU website.
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Images analyzed
In the study that Published in Landscape Ecology and Evolution221 researchers analyzed camera images showing wildlife from 102 different research projects in 21 countries. The researchers analyzed the amount and timing of mammalian activity during periods of low and high human activity.
In Sweden, more than 100 participants in the municipality of Umeå were able to borrow wildlife cameras from SLU University, in order to see which animals they visited around their homes. Five animals were then analyzed; Hare, roe deer, elk, red fox and badger.
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Some are more active, others less so
The activity of hares and deer increased during periods of most human activity, while another type of animal became less active.
The results fit well with the average patterns we saw globally, where we saw that many wild animals, especially herbivores like deer and moose, were more active in periods of increased human activity. On the other hand, large predators were less active during the same periods, says Tim Hofmeister.
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