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Their sudden appearance surprised those who used public restrooms. a boy stopped a football match down the field. For weeks they had fun in a public swimming pool and blocked a city road. One even gave birth near the 13th hole of the golf course.
Sea lions once thrived off the coast of New Zealand. But over hundreds of years of manhunts reduced their numbers and drove them to the subantarctic islands hundreds of kilometers to the south. In recent years, animals from one of the world’s rarest sea lion species have slowly and unexpectedly begun to return to mainland New Zealand.
This is a preservation story of hope and possibility. But with many of the sea lions’ former breeding grounds now populated by humans, scientists say this time New Zealanders must learn to share.
A study Published Sunday in Methods in Ecology and Evolution, he proposes a new way of doing this — combining algorithmic modeling that predicts where species will settle, with information from those who regularly encounter wildlife.
Man-made hazards such as roads and fences that don’t always appear on maps can be ignored in algorithmic modeling, meaning that predictions of where sea lions will roam can be very remote. By working closely with wildlife rangers and sea lion experts, the New Zealand Department of Conservation, which helped fund the research, hopes to better identify attractive habitats and identify potential threats to animals more accurately and realistically than ever before.
“One way to help is public awareness and participation and knowing which communities to target as the population expands,” said Laura Boren, a science consultant for the conservation agency. “We can prepare people for the sea lions coming to their towns.”
In a place where no part of New Zealand is more than 80 miles from the sea, and where children learn the names of native trees and birds at school, Ms Boren added that many New Zealanders take a keen interest in conservation, which puts them in a good position to adapt to the environment. . sharing beaches and walks with cheeky, curious sea lions.
Some human encounters were bizarre – an animal caused a saltwater swimming pool to close in the country’s South Island city of Dunedin. little kid swayed by the pool and they had to be persuaded to leave the complex through the electronic doors. However, sea lions have occasionally been deliberately killed or hit by cars. A monthly road closure Protecting a mother and her cub, again in Dunedin in January, has been a bit of a disappointment among the locals.
“We need to educate people that these guys need to be here,” said Louise Chilvers, an ecologist at Massey University in New Zealand who was not involved in the study. “They’re animals, they’re part of the ecosystem. Respect them and they will respect you.”
Sea lions are not aggressive, but the largest males can grow to be as heavy as cows. Their sheer size and their loud growls when startled can be intimidating.
The new model for predicting suitable habitats showed that it would take some creativity to integrate sea lions back into New Zealand. Veronica Frans, lead author of the study and Ph.D. A Michigan State University quantitative ecology student found 395 areas identified as suitable habitat for New Zealand sea lions, using algorithm-based modeling. But taking into account the study’s additional data from sources like rangers and scientists, 90 percent of the locations are questionable because of human influence, such as roads and fences.
It’s a mystery why these sea lions, estimated at around 10,000 animals, returned to New Zealand from their subantarctic island habitat. NS first woman made the pilgrimage She went to the mainland to give birth to a calf in 1993, and again the population slowed.
Their return home is even more interesting given that sea lions are considered to be extremely philopatric, meaning they tend to breed very close to their birthplace – sometimes within a few hundred feet.
But given the harsh climate of the subantarctic islands and the more abundant fish stocks in warmer mainland waters, Dr. Animals do better in their original homes — humans and all — Chilvers said.
“They’re coming back whether we want it or not,” he added.
But Ms Frans said planning the return of sea lions doesn’t mean people have to give up much of New Zealand’s coastline.
“It’s difficult because we think that protected areas are areas that will drive people out, but people are allowed to integrate into these places,” he said. share paths with sea lions. “More than just finding a balance.”
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