From Popular Mechanics
In a new paper, researchers describe a new term for the massive cessation of human activity that has occurred at the outset of COVID-19 as millions went into mandated lockdown.
Dubbing it the ‘anthropause,’ researchers are hoping to use this time to study the relationships between animals and humans in the hopes of finding new ways for us to coexist with our environments in a mutually beneficial manner.
COVID-19 has turned the world upside down. Globally, more than half a million people have died from the disease and in some areas, cases are on the rise. Still, one tiny silver lining has emerged during the pandemic: mother nature is taking advantage.
In Turkey’s Bosphorus Strait, dolphins have begun appearing closer to shore thanks to a decrease in human activity in the surrounding waters. The BBC reports that the Bosphorus is one of the busiest waterways in the world with tankers, cargo ships, fishing, and civilian boats all making their way through the area. Lockdown mandates equated to less traffic in the water which has allowed the dolphins, to comfortably explore news spaces.
The same trend is also happening in other parts of the world. In Albania, the population of flamingos has increased through approximately 1,000 as more and more birds flock to the west coast of the country. In Kruger National Park in South Africa, lions have been proud of a domain they don’t frequent.
Kruger visitors that tourists don’t see. #SALockdown This lion pride regularly lives in Kempiana Contract Park, a domain that Kruger tourists do not see. This afternoon, they were a lie on the paved road just outside Orpen’s rest camp. ?Section Ranger Richard Sowry pic.twitter.com/jFUBAWvmsA
– Kruger National Park (@SANParksKNP) April 15, 2020
Now, researchers have devised a term to describe this phenomenon: anthropoanthropoanthropausia. In an article published in Nature Ecology – Evolution, researchers claim to have coined the term to describe the relief in human mobility that we observe in the pandemic.
We found that other people began calling the era of blockade a “big pause,” but we thought a more express term would be useful. We propose that “anthropausia” in particular refers to a bountiful global slowdown in fashionable human activities, especially travel. We are aware that the correct prefix is ‘anthropo-‘ (for ‘human’), but we have opted for the abbreviated form, which is less difficult to use and where the lack of ‘po’ is still included in the pronunciation of ‘pause’. ‘
However, less human interaction was not intelligent news for all animals. Macaques in Thailand are becoming more competitive because places that are regularly full of tourists willing to eat percentages have noticed much less pedestrian traffic.
In Nara, Japan, sika deer (who are known for their manners) began to roam the streets, which they do not, looking for food since tourism fell and cannot rely on others to be given snacks. The New York Times reports that more than 1,000 deer living in Nara Park “radepend venture out of bounds,” but have begun doing so in recent months.
Researchers also cite the additional threat to endangered species such as rhinos facing a “greater threat of poaching or persecution” without others following them.
The researchers say that this time could “provide important insights into human-wildlife interactions in the twenty-first century.” Their hope is that data will be gathered on a global scale and in an attempt to analyze the biology of different animals “across sites that vary in COVID-19-related restrictions and resultant changes in human mobility … across different time periods, spanning from before until after changes occurred.”
The team hopes that these studies can help us locate major tactics to live together without changing and damaging their habitats.
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