Wildlife in Our Midst, and an Up-Close LMAC Collage #83

This week, @shaka's beautiful template image intrigued me in a particular way. I wondered what might be going on in that distant village. So, I took out my virtual binoculars and zeroed in on one section.

In my imagination, my collage is what I might have seen.

This Week's Template Photo by @shaka

Some time ago I wrote a blog about radioactive pigs that were migrating into urban areas. Recently a number of articles have appeared in the popular press about the effects of COVID-19 on animal populations in urban centers.

This YouTube video highlights some of the perceived changes:

However, the global pandemic only accentuated a phenomenon that already existed, as human habitation encroached on areas traditionally occupied by wildlife.

Here is a 2010 picture of a moose walking down Main street in Homer, Alaska.

Image credit: Beeblebrox CC 3.0

As early as 1998, the International Journal of Circumpolar Health reported on an increasing incidence of vehicle/moose encounters in Anchorage, Alaska.

There is a technical name for the effect that human development has on wildlife: "anthropogenic pressure". While a recognition of the pressure on wildlife has been addressed with the creation of conservation areas, this has been enacted with little acknowledgment of real-life concerns. The interest in conserving nature/wildlife has often taken precedence over an interest in the the well-being of local communities.

In areas where the standard of living is low and much of the population is living at subsistence levels, a concern for wildlife may seem trivial. It is in these areas that greatest encroachment on protected areas is noted. A report by the University of Cambridge states:

"The researchers found a link between increased human encroachment on protected areas and nations with fewer roads and a lower rank on the Human Development Index."

Elephant in Assam, India

Image credit:Baby Devi 26. Used under CC 4.0 license.

The conflict between human activity and wildlife is dramatically illustrated in the Assam tea fields of India. Here it is not only large scale development, but small-scale subsistence tea agriculture that has brought the indigenous elephant and human population into deadly confrontations.

Officially, about 800 people were killed by elephants in the area between the years 2010 and 2016.

A recent well-publicized trek of elephants in China has led scientists to speculate as to the cause of this migration.
Here is a Youtube video showing the progress of the elephants across the rural and developed areas:

A Chinese forestry official, Li Zhongyuan, speculated that enforced changes in the elephants' diet prompted them to migrate from the reserve on which they had been confined. Their appetite for agriculture products had been induced by loss of tradition habitat. He suggested that the elephants were "now changing to agricultural crops like corn and sugar cane".

The current global pandemic which has taken millions of lives in the last year highlights another danger that arises from anthropogenic pressure: the emergence of zoonitic diseases.

While researchers may argue about the origins of the virus that causes COVID-19, part of the discussion revolves around cross-species transmission from a wild host. Even if this virus didn't jump the species barrier, other viruses have. An article published in Trends in Ecological Evolution discusses "emerging wildlife-borne zoonoses in urban landscapes, where anthropogenic pressures can create diverse wildlife–livestock–human interfaces."

Anopheles Mosquito

Image credit: James D. Gathany. US CDC, public domain.

When we think of human/wildlife interactions, our minds go soon to the cute moose, or rampaging elephant. Far from most of our minds is an age-old disease vector: the mosquito. Urbanization and development bring millions of people into areas where mosquitoes breed. In 2018, the Lancet published an article, "Time to Revisit How Dams Are Affecting Malaria Transmission".

Akosombo Dam, Ghana

Image credit: ZSM. Used under CC 3.0 license.

While dams are considered essential for economic growth in some areas, in Africa they have been shown to cause 1.1 million cases of malaria (at a minimum) a year. The cost in human life is born most by those communities that are closest to the dam, while the benefit is greatest to areas distant from the dam. Complicating this picture is the fact that people of limited resources often relocate close to a dam so they have greater access to water.

It is obvious that there is never a simple trade-off between development and ecological concerns. One of the elements that needs to be factored into future development/conservation is the impact on poor or subsistence populations.

My Collage

I want to acknowledge the inspiration for this blog about wildlife/human interaction: @shasta posted pictures of a Mama moose and two baby moose that were walking down his driveway. I decided then to put a moose in my collage.

Pixabay

Although I don't compete in the LMAC contest, I do make collages, because I love the LMAC community, and the creative exercise.

Here is the small section of @shaka's picture I decided to work on:

I had to forage in Pixabay to find the elements to bring my piece of the template in focus. When I enlarged the section, everything looked fuzzy. So I had to paint over (digitally) some of the buildings and other areas in order to make them more clear. Then, I added elements:

Garden and Trees
Tree
Trees
Flowers
Bear
Deer
Moose
Pagoda
Lilac trees

Thank you @shaka, for the fun, and the creative exercise. Readers who want to participate in this weekly adventure, please check out @shaka's blog for rules. We have a school, run by our talented teacher @quantumg. You may also visit our Discord channel to chat and get to know community members.

The only thing you need to participate is enthusiasm.

Thank you for reading my blog
Hive on!