Ecotourism may threaten predators and boost rodents
The mere sound of the human voice in the wild will send large and medium-sized carnivores into hiding and encourage rodents to prosper, according to new research.
Scientists from the University of California, Santa Cruz, US, wanted to find out what impact humans have on wildlife from our presence alone – that is, without hunting or interfering with the environment.
Their findings, published in the journal Ecology Letters, show that our presence can create a "landscape of fear,” with potentially disastrous effects on predators, while opening up the environment for rats and mice to forage more brazenly and widely.