If there’s one constant theme that has come up during my years writing about science and the delicate balance of ecosystems, it’s that everything is interconnected. Remove one creature from a food chain, and everything gets thrown out of whack. A good example of how that vast interconnectedness eventually trickles down to us humans can be found in the journal Current Biology, where researchers recently found that people are far less likely to have a figurative or very literal run-in with a deer while driving when pumas are around and thriving.
The big, powerful, cool-looking cats don’t just eat deer; they convince them to stop hanging around roads in the first place.
According to the study, researchers analyzed years of camera trap footage and wildlife collision data from Washington state’s Olympic Peninsula, where black-tailed deer are responsible for the overwhelming majority of wildlife-related crashes. Areas teeming with pumas saw deer spending about 15 percent less time near roads while shifting more of their activity into daytime, when drivers can actually see them in the road.
A New Study Shows How Predators Can Make Roads Safer for Humans
The researchers estimated that places with high puma activity were overall 67 percent less likely to experience deer/vehicle collisions, with the expected number of crashes over five years dropping by as much as 76 percent.
Your brain might assume that this is happening because pumas were doing such a fine job of eradicating the deer menace that our roads were increasingly devoid of the adorable but annoying creatures. That’s only partially true since the real work is in changing your behavior. When deer know there’s a predatory puma around, they avoid open roads and cut down on nighttime wandering to keep themselves safe, thereby keeping drivers safe.
We tend to think of predatory wild animals as posing a risk to livestock and the occasional hiker. We tend to forget that they are a vital piece of our ecosystems. If all pumas were to mysteriously vanish into thin air right now, it wouldn’t be long before the statistics on car/dear collisions skyrocketed in the territories they once patrolled. Your mountain lions deserve a little appreciation for keeping your local roads safe.
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