highway countenance us humans zip up from one place to another — at least when the traffic ’s not horrendous . But for tempestuous beast , main road are like wide concrete fencing that feature metal box of death barreling down at 70 mph . In the Santa Monica Mountains , a universe of angry mass Leo has become penned in by highways and housing developments , twist inbred — and aggressive .
The problem has been bit by bit growing for decades , as a roadstead and houses have spring up around the mountain . But a just - released10 - year studyfrom the National Park Service paint an especially sobering ikon of males killing sons and mating with daughters . Since batch lion ca n’t leave the expanse to mate with others , inherited diversity in the population is startlingly low — that ’s a another way of saying inbred .
The main culprit here is 101 to the north , which pins the mount lion population against the coast . interstate highway 405 to the east and living accommodations developments all around also curtail the drift of the unremarkably astray - graze animate being .
National Park Service
The written report is “ dramatically document impingement of isolation by main road , ” Paul Beier , a life scientist at the Northern Arizona University , toldScience . sight lions are n’t the only creatures fence in by highways , of form , but they are some of the largest and most seeable .
Is there a solution ? If so , it ’s probablyanimal highway intersection . A proposed13 x 13 foot tunnelunder the highway near the deal would be at least $ 10 million , which is n’t mark change . With gazillion already poured into preserving the nature of the Santa Monica Mountains , it ’s for certain deserving consider whether a little extra is worth it to allow tidy sum lions to range more naturally .
For now , the California Department of Transportation put up fencing material to encourage the lions to pass under the main road rather than over it — after the earlier dying of a young mount lion by car . Theoccasional malehas escaped across the main road , but even they would still need female to couple with on the other side .
The whole instalment illustrates the many ways something as simple as a main road can impact geographics . We work up highway as artery for human connectivity , but ironically , they also carve up the raw landscape painting into isolated and artificial islands . [ Current BiologyviaCity Lab ]
Top image : National Park Service
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