The border border between the US and Mexico is, of course, an obstacle to prevent people’s migrants from crossing America when they seek job, family or asylum from violence.
It is also a significant obstacle to the wildlife range.
The border wall, the basis of President Donald Trump’s agenda, transcends a solid, unique ecosystem with hundreds of local species, from Jaguars and Pumas to black bears and deer. These animals often have to move to survive whether to find a water source or a friend.
We know that the wall is undressed for many species, which can reduce the likelihood of their survival. However, exactly how the wall affects this rich ecosystem, but it was mostly a mystery.
A new study, one of the first of its kind, finally offers some answers – basically spying on animals near the wall. During the study, the ecologist and main author Ganesh Marín, the then PhD in Arizona University, established 85 motion sensor cameras in the northeastern sonora, Mexico, along the US border in Arizona and New Mexico. The cameras began to record the entire investigation when the animals were passing by.
For about two years from 2020 to 2022. The cameras took hundreds of hours of shots, including more than 21,000 clips with mammals, said Marín, a national geographic researcher and post -ctoral scientist at non -profit scientific partners.
“This place is so special because you see these tropical species such as Okelites and Jaguars, at the same time as beavers and black bears,” I was told earlier this year when I reported Borderland Jaguars.
Some entries are quite incredible. For example, in this clip, a young Puma or Mountain Lion emits a chirping sound, most likely to demand the mother.
Ganesh Marin’s consent
Or check out this jaguar as you approach the camera. This cat is known as bonito. Scientists first discovered this cat in 2020. And can recognize it according to their signs.
Ganesh Marin’s consent
Marín cameras also discovered another Jaguar called “Valeri”. He was seen several times in a protected location called Cuenca Los Ojos, directly south of the wall in Sonora.
Ganesh Marin’s consent
The camera traps caught black bears and their chicks …
Ganesh Marin’s consent
Ganesh Marin’s consent
… Bobcats and Coyotes …
Ganesh Marin’s consent
Ganesh Marin’s consent
… and even ocelot, a ruthless predatory cat.
Ganesh Marin’s consent
After analyzing the videos, several important information about wildlife at the border edge eventually revealed. Marín found large mammals such as black bears and deer, as well as some smaller herbivores, spend less time at the wall than in other, remote sections of its research region. This indicates that these animals avoid border infrastructure.
Other species such as Pronghorn, which were seen on the US side, did not appear in its cameras at all. This may be because they find it difficult to cross the highway, which runs approximately parallel to the sonora wall, says Marín and his co -author John L. Koprowski, a biologist at the University of Wyoming.
Meanwhile, smaller ordinary predators such as kojots and bobcats seemed more tolerant of human activity: according to footage, they were more likely to use habitats with cattle, cars and mud roads.
The study adds to the growing research showing that the wall and infrastructure around it disrupts wildlife communities.
“Wonderful wildlife is at the border due to hesitant efforts to protect and restore the flow of life between the two countries,” Marín said in a letter. “We should not define this beautiful region and beings that wandering after the established division existence.”