Don’t be surprised if you see a flock of peahens casually strolling past the cafes on the streets, once the lockdown ends. While the “Hoomans” are at home, to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, seems like the entire animal kingdom is out on urban city adventure.
Mama bears in India are showing their cute little cubs what the human world looks like, of course without the humans. Pumas in Chile and even endangered civet cats in India are taking casual strolls past the city roads. Elephants have just discovered that they can run down where ever they want and similarly mountain goats have also been visiting the markets in the UK. The wild coyotes in San Francisco are bolder now and regularly walk around the empty city blocks. The deer population in Japan and Sri Lanka like walking down the streets. The coastal areas have also seen a rise in migrating birds and even the local fauna. Nearly 100 critically endangered hawksbill sea turtles have hatched in Brazil. The coasts of Mumbai have been painted pink by hundreds of flamingos, according to Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), 25% more flamingos have migrated to the region compared to last year, likely caused by the decrease in human activity.
Let’s take a look at the Urban life adventures of the animal kingdom
With the sightings of bears, peacocks, and elephants on the roads, deer running down on rooftops and leopards visiting residential communities, we are only looking at what naturally comes to all the wildlife. The entire world that we have made into concrete jungles today, is essentially their space. With the humans staying indoors the animals are only discovering what we have done to the planet. This time might be good for the wildlife, but for the animals who are dependent on humans to feed them, like the Doggos behind your block or the cats that come to your window. Even the monkeys who snatch away your groceries are having a hard time. Make sure that you feed the animals if they have a habit of depending on you and encourage other people to do the same. Also, don’t forget to take care of your pets, recent reports of cats and dogs testing positive to COVID-19 show that even your furry friends are susceptible. The earth is healing itself and wildlife flourishing, it is evident that nature can heal itself if we withdraw from our damaging activities. The theme of International Day for Biodiversity 2020 is “Our Solutions are in Nature”, and the world right now is a living, growing, and booming example of exactly that.
