4 ms·

The book “the lion in the living room” documents P-22 and LAs love for the cat very well, it’s a great read and I recommend it. As much as I’m happy about this

The book “the lion in the living room” documents P-22 and LAs love for the cat very well, it’s a great read and I recommend it. As much as I’m happy about this I find myself skeptical that wildlife will learn to use it. Do animals walk along the side of the highway looking for openings? Have there been any studies on the efficacy of these wildlife bridges?

ahoef 1y ago
These are all over The Netherlands and widely used by animals.
xnx 1y ago
> Do animals walk along the side of the highway looking for openings? There's precedence in the natural world. A single log can get a lot of use by all types of critters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsDU_tTgsFw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsDU_tTgsFw
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
kjkjadksj 1y ago
They will use it but they also use bog standard cheap bridges too. Imo making it look like natural landscape for $$$$ is kind of stupid.
gregfjohnson 1y ago
I wonder if there are any plans to place meat along the bridge to attract mountain lions. Will ecologists try to "train" the wildlife to use the bridge, or just let nature take its course?
- Rebelgecko 1y ago
  I don't think they'll "bait" it but there are some design choices made to funnel animals into it
- dragonwriter 1y ago
  If mountain lions exist in the area, so do prey animals, and if the prey animals use the bridge, there will be meat on it for the mountain lions.
sanktanglia 1y ago
There is a wildlife bridge like this in orange county where I used to live and it was very often used, it is directly responsible for increases in their numbers
rurp 1y ago
Yep these bridges have been researched and found to be quite effective. It sounds like this bridge was unusually expensive but on average they even work out to be neutral or +EV on cost due to all of the prevented accidents.
PaulHoule 1y ago
https://environmentamerica.org/articles/do-wildlife-crossings-work/ https://environmentamerica.org/articles/do-wildlife-crossing... https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9753749/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9753749/ In my neighborhood (NY not VA) we had some people make a crossing for these guys this spring https://www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com/amphibians/salamanders/red-spotted-newt/index.php https://www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com/amphibians/sal...
idiotsecant 1y ago
There is one east of Seattle that gets used by wildlife quite a lot. When you're up there the interstate is very quiet due to all the earth between you and it, and they keep both sides of the crossing well wooded and obscured from view from the interstate. The animals figure out pretty quick where to cross.
- poopsmithe 1y ago
  That one's cool because animals can cross over or under https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf5nMLrlgW4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf5nMLrlgW4
- bahmboo 1y ago
  There are also fences along the freeway for what seems like miles. That's to funnel the animals to the crossing. There are also 10 or so under crossings drivers can't see.
  - idiotsecant 1y ago
    I didn't know about the under crossings! Neat.
0points 1y ago
Here in Sweden, we have great success with wildlife bridges and more is being built, along with wildlife passageways (for when large animal end up on the road, there's a way out for them through the wildlife fences). Studies: https://triekol.se/triekol-3-eng/over-and-underpasses-for-larger-wildlife/ https://triekol.se/triekol-3-eng/over-and-underpasses-for-la...

ahoef 1y ago

These are all over The Netherlands and widely used by animals.

xnx 1y ago

> Do animals walk along the side of the highway looking for openings? There's precedence in the natural world. A single log can get a lot of use by all types of critters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsDU_tTgsFw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsDU_tTgsFw

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

kjkjadksj 1y ago

They will use it but they also use bog standard cheap bridges too. Imo making it look like natural landscape for $$$$ is kind of stupid.

gregfjohnson 1y ago

I wonder if there are any plans to place meat along the bridge to attract mountain lions. Will ecologists try to "train" the wildlife to use the bridge, or just let nature take its course?

Rebelgecko 1y ago
I don't think they'll "bait" it but there are some design choices made to funnel animals into it
dragonwriter 1y ago
If mountain lions exist in the area, so do prey animals, and if the prey animals use the bridge, there will be meat on it for the mountain lions.

sanktanglia 1y ago

There is a wildlife bridge like this in orange county where I used to live and it was very often used, it is directly responsible for increases in their numbers

rurp 1y ago

Yep these bridges have been researched and found to be quite effective. It sounds like this bridge was unusually expensive but on average they even work out to be neutral or +EV on cost due to all of the prevented accidents.

PaulHoule 1y ago

https://environmentamerica.org/articles/do-wildlife-crossings-work/ https://environmentamerica.org/articles/do-wildlife-crossing... https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9753749/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9753749/ In my neighborhood (NY not VA) we had some people make a crossing for these guys this spring https://www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com/amphibians/salamanders/red-spotted-newt/index.php https://www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com/amphibians/sal...

idiotsecant 1y ago

There is one east of Seattle that gets used by wildlife quite a lot. When you're up there the interstate is very quiet due to all the earth between you and it, and they keep both sides of the crossing well wooded and obscured from view from the interstate. The animals figure out pretty quick where to cross.

poopsmithe 1y ago
That one's cool because animals can cross over or under https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf5nMLrlgW4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf5nMLrlgW4
bahmboo 1y ago
There are also fences along the freeway for what seems like miles. That's to funnel the animals to the crossing. There are also 10 or so under crossings drivers can't see.
- idiotsecant 1y ago
  I didn't know about the under crossings! Neat.

0points 1y ago

Here in Sweden, we have great success with wildlife bridges and more is being built, along with wildlife passageways (for when large animal end up on the road, there's a way out for them through the wildlife fences). Studies: https://triekol.se/triekol-3-eng/over-and-underpasses-for-larger-wildlife/ https://triekol.se/triekol-3-eng/over-and-underpasses-for-la...