Pandemic Lockdown Eases Mountain Lions’ Fear of Urban Areas

Six GPS-tracked wild cats wandered closer to Santa Cruz, California, and surrounding towns as human activity died down under shelter-in-place orders last March.

Written byJef Akst

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After SARS-CoV-2 was found to be spreading in the US early in 2020, local governments issued shelter-in-place orders to try to combat the virus. Around Santa Cruz, California, this resulted in a 50 percent reduction in local travel, according to a paper published June 23 in Current Biology. Local mountain lions, which typically steer clear of human-populated areas, took notice, expanding their ranges closer to urban areas, the study found.

The Scientist spoke with study author Chris Wilmers, a wildlife ecologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, about this work, and what the findings suggest about how ecosystem dynamics can shift in the face of widespread changes in human behavior.

Chris Wilmers: Immediately? Probably not. But a few days after the lockdown, I started venturing out into town occasionally to buy groceries or whatever, and noticed that there was a real dramatic decline in traffic on ...

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Meet the Author

Jef Akst
Jef (an unusual nickname for Jennifer) got her master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses. After four years of diving off the Gulf Coast of Tampa and performing behavioral experiments at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, she left research to pursue a career in science writing. As The Scientist's managing editor, Jef edited features and oversaw the production of the TS Digest and quarterly print magazine. In 2022, her feature on uterus transplantation earned first place in the trade category of the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. She is a member of the National Association of Science Writers.
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