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It's a Saturday, so here's a (fact-checked) thread about animals thriving while we're surviving.
Endangered Leatherback Turtles are breeding in record numbers. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/covid-19-restrictions-might-boost-leatherback-sea-turtle-nesting-180974728/
Animals are suffering through less noise pollution, meaning birds and whales don't have to shout over us as much any more. https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-lockdown-gives-animals-rare-break-from-noise-pollution/a-53106214
The endangered pangolin, the world's most trafficked mammal, might have a chance at recovering their populations because the demand for them is a lot lower rn for, er, some reason... https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/18/covid-19-a-blessing-for-pangolins
An in fact, the illegal wildlife trade is under threat worldwide, as people become more and more aware of its dangers and Governments start ramping up efforts to prevent it. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-52125309
Goats took over a Welsh seaside town, and not even getting arrested prevented them from living their best lives and seizing the means of production etc. https://twitter.com/AndrewStuart/status/1243329253288169473
Tourists are gone and air pollution is down, so Bears, coyotes, bobcats, wolves, and deer are all having a blast in Yosemite. I highly recommend following the park's feed for important updates. https://twitter.com/YosemiteNPS/status/1249880050343784448
Lions (and hyenas) have been spotted taking luxurious naps on sun-warmed roads in South Africa's Kruger National Park. Nature isn't necessarily healing, but some of it is at least having a good nap. https://twitter.com/SANParksKNP/status/1250453004094001152
It's really difficult to gauge yet whether animal populations are legit going up, but we can already see that low/no tourism is impacting how marine life spreads and interacts, and it's cool as hell. Like what's happening in Hawaii rn. https://www.khon2.com/coronavirus/marine-life-improving-as-top-tourist-spots-remain-closed/
A LOT of animal misinformation/exaggeration is being spread, like the deer in East London (they're frequent visitors), & the flamingos in Mumbai (their population has tripled in 40 yrs). But a lot of it is down to ppl actually *noticing* animals more, which is nice as well.
The hyper-visibility of animals & a huge shift in how we live is already leading to small but significant changes, like this Elephant ride park removing the chains, and taking steps toward turning it into a more ethical & educational tourist destination. https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/thailand-elephant-ride-coronavirus-scli-intl/index.html
It's BS that nature is healing, what it's doing is reacting to swift changes in habitat; with good, but also, unfortunately some devastating outcomes. Like the many elephant parks in Thailand with populations now facing starvation, due to their captivity. https://drifttravel.com/world-animal-protection-launches-emergency-appeal-for-elephants-in-thailand-facing-starvation-due-to-covid-19/
Our choices always impact our environment, and they continue to do so in lockdown, with consequences we might not even see until it's too late. So use this time to think about that, while you watch this throwback to a penguin meeting a beluga whale in an empty @shedd_aquarium.
