For better or worse, we are approaching our savage neighbors
s0science journalists have traced a large number of stories about how humans interact with their surroundings—usually by accident. Even so, I was shocked by the wonderful photos from this year's Wildlife Photographer Competition. It showed a furry face on some of the tricky issues I covered. These images are intimate views of wildlife forced to navigate our unnatural world.
Humans have designed a collision process between ourselves and our wild neighbors—by urban expansion that destroys habitats and pushing animals to new areas of climate change as they have adapted to the changing world. As the wildlife photography competition shows us, there is also a lot to be amazed and protected in nature. Karine Aigner's winning photo has no trace of humanity, just a cactus bee ball quarreling to attract women's attention.
But the image that made me stop was an image of blurred boundaries between wildlife and urban life. You can take a look at it yourself. A picture is worth a thousand words, right? The following pictures and illustrations are from photographers around the world who submitted their work for the annual competition held by the Museum of Natural History in London. The photos will also be displayed in the museum starting tomorrow.
The picture above won the category " Urban Wildlife " in the competition. polar bear has become a typical representative of climate change. You may have seen separate photos of giants whose sea ice shrinks. Here, photographer Dmitry Kokh captures the scene of their exploration of the ghost town on the island of Chukchiko Liuqin, Russia. According to Natural History Museum , Koch stumbled upon the bears while sailing on the island and was surprised to see movement in the house. After removing the binoculars , Koch realized that more than 20 bears were roaming in the abandoned settlements, so he photographed them with a low-noise drone.
As global temperatures rise, polar bears are venturing toward human settlements as the sea ice they usually hunt disappears. The Natural History Museum noted that the bears were "very curious" and they would look for food in abandoned buildings.
Daniel Mideros wins the "Animals in the Environment" category with this photo of a bear wearing glasses looking out at the once lush valley, which is now cut down for agriculture and urban expansion of Ecuador quedo . According to International Union for Conservation of Nature , the Paddington bear is based on this species, which is considered a "fragile" species and is decreasing in numbers due to habitat loss. Mideros named this photo " glasses bear 's slim look".
Don't panic. No sloth is damaged in the photo above. The dog in the photo is part of the Slotch Protection Foundation’s “Slot Safety Training Program”. The foundation encourages pet owners to train their dogs not to attack wild animals. The dog in the photo just sniffs the sloth; its owner tells it to stop, and it obeys.
Slots spend most of their time on the canopy. But as the forest became more fragmented, they had to venture to hike across the land for food. Photographer Suzi Eszterhas took this photo at Puerto Viejo de Talamanca in Costa Rica .
Wild animals not only encounter humans more frequently—they also encounter domestic animals. The above photo, taken by Fernando Constantino Martinez Berma, is very clear. He encountered an jaguar and a pig in the rebuilt Maya village in the Río Secreto Nature Reserve. Staff at the reserve reinforced fences that separate animals to protect pigs, and Jaguars—The Museum of Natural History notes that they may face "revenge" for killing livestock.
Encountering between wild animals and domesticated animals can also bring risks to people. Scientists are increasingly worried about the virus spillover.As more animals migrate, thanks again to climate change, they are encountering species that they don't normally have. This creates more opportunities for viruses to spread from one species to another—and possibly for humans. This makes it even more important to understand the connection between our health and the environment around us and the health of wildlife. This is a concept called One Health that has only become more urgent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, it’s hard to imagine what “a healthy” really means – especially when I’m writing at my desk – until photos like this show me how close we really are.
