New research reveals coyotes and bobcats aren’t dying in the jaws of bigger carnivores such as wolves or cougars. Instead, they are fleeing their predators by moving closer to farms, suburbs and other human-inhabited areas that wolves avoid.
in the presence of people who keep leopards away. Scientists have a name for the phenomenon: the human shield effect.In the most recent study, a team led by Laura Prugh, a University of Washington wildlife ecologist, placed trackers on 35 coyotes, 22 wolves, 37 bobcats and 60 cougars in Washington to see how they interacted with each other — and with people.
But humans turned out to be no shield. People killed the tracked coyotes and bobcats at more than three times the rate the bigger four-legged carnivores did. One was hit by a car. Eight were finished off by traps. And 16 others were shot dead.For Darimont, the findings are yet more evidence that people armed with lead bullets and steel traps are the real “superpredator” on the landscape, altering ecosystems in profound ways.
Wildlife managers sometimes need to get creative. In 2014, for example, biologists hazed one well-known urban dweller dubbed Coyote 748 with noisemakers and paintball guns after it denned in a parking garage near Soldier Field in Chicago. He and his mate moved to a safer site. Coyotes are not going extinct any time soon. But other midsize predators poised to move closer to cities are at risk as urbanization increases around the world.
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