Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Wild animals enjoy freedom of a quieter world

Coronavirus lockdowns globally have given parts of the natural world a rare opportunity to experience life with hardly any humans around.
Animals in urban areas are exploring emptied streets and waterways, and delighting human inhabitants along the way.
While many of these are not unique sightings, the human restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic seem to have given animals the confidence to go deeper into our cities and stay for longer.
Others are enjoying having nature reserves and parks all to themselves, and some authorities report a boom in wildlife while tourists are away.

The Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey is normally one of the world's busiest marine routes. Huge tankers, cargo ships and passenger boats criss-cross the straits that cut the city in half 24 hours a day.
Now, with a lull in traffic and fishermen staying at home during the city's lockdown, dolphins are swimming and jumping in the waters.
It's not uncommon to spot the tell-tale dots of a dolphin from the city's quays, far away in the distance. But videos posted by residents of the animals swimming near the banks show how much closer to the city they're happy to come now.

Dolphins "are coming closer to the edge of the water as the terror of uncontrolled anglers on the shoreline has temporarily stopped," a ship spotter who has photographed dolphins in the past told AFP.

"Wild boars take over Haifa as residents stuck inside," said the headline in Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
Boars were seen snuffling and foraging for food around the city of Haifa before the pandemic, but the absence of humans has encouraged them further, residents say.
 "It's time for love," an environmental expert said about flamingos arriving in Albania to mate 
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-52459487