Privileged Play and Anxious Mothers

This piece comes to us from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). Views and opinions expressed in blog posts are those of the individuals expressing them and do not necessarily reflect those of THIRTEEN Productions LLC/The WNET Group. On a cold wintry day, I once watched a hunched raven glide down a snowy roof. climb back […] The post Privileged Play and Anxious Mothers appeared first on Nature.

Jan 10, 2025 - 15:54
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Privileged Play and Anxious Mothers

This piece comes to us from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). Views and opinions expressed in blog posts are those of the individuals expressing them and do not necessarily reflect those of THIRTEEN Productions LLC/The WNET Group.


On a cold wintry day, I once watched a hunched raven glide down a snowy roof. climb back up, then do it again. And again. It brought me back to my experience sledding down snow-packed hills with friends as a kid in California and New York. Sliding was just pure fun. But what does the play of we humans have to do with the health of our biodiverse planet?

Based on four decades as a scientist focused on iconic and endangered species across all continents, I have some thoughts on this question. They boil down to three themes—privilege, pregnancy, and health—that relate directly to the conservation of Earth’s biodiversity. What some eight billion eco-tourists who travel annually to play among nature’s bounty may not realize is the extent to which they affect it.

Photo by Mario Tutic/ Pexels.

Let’s start with privilege. Just as people have a desire to recreate or enjoy leisure time, uneven access to resources can direct where, how, and when play arises. The same is notoriously true of animals. While we don’t usually think about ideas like discretionary income in animals the same way we might for our enjoyment of our expendable monies, animals likewise rely on their available resources.

Their monetary surrogate is access to nutritious food, which consequently dictates surplus energy. Those with greater nutritional access experience the privilege of additional leisure time and play more than those without, as exemplified by Africa’s meerkats and Asian monkeys, North America’s wild bighorn sheep and deer, as well as some domestic animals.

Group of desert bighorn sheep (two anxious pregnant females – far left) focus on hikers beyond the protected boundaries of Canyonlands National Park in Utah. Photo credit: Joel Berger/ WCS.

Beneficial resources can mean more leisure and play time, but such relative luxuries are often stymied by the experience of pregnancy. What non-human mammals and we share are the heightened difficulties of the last trimester. Fetal growth becomes exponential, which greatly increases the foraging demands of expectant mothers.

Let’s consider the perspective of wild species as we vacation in their habitats. Such visitation can become an intense problem when the timing of harmful tourist activities coincides with maternal biological demands, especially if expectant mothers are thereby thwarted from feeding in areas with the best nutrition.

A case in point can be found in the town of Moab in southeast Utah, renowned for its canyons, cliffs, and desert splendor where people come for mountain biking, hiking, and adrenaline-filled motorized recreation.

Female desert bighorn sheep depart the area as three motorcyclists arrive; only a single motorcyclist in this photo as sheep usually flee and it’s rare to photograph bikes and sheep together. Photo credit: Joel Berger/ WCS.

The area receives 4-5 million visitors a year—more than Yellowstone National Park. The bulk arrives in the spring. While the state and federal agencies in Utah encourage playful enjoyment of nature, springtime is a critical period for most wildlife. Utah’s reigning icon—desert bighorn sheep—are in their last trimester of pregnancy just as the most protein-rich vegetation emerges and expectant mothers seek to enhance their diets on behalf of their babies-to-be.

These moms face two challenges from the onslaught of well-intentioned fun-seeking tourists. They either flee or they habituate and remain. The former is incumbent to these sensitive females who commonly take flight when disturbed by recreationists largely oblivious to the shy sheep.

My team and I have documented the absurd energetic costs this imposes on the fleeing sheep. The escaping females burn precious calories needed to support for fetal growth as they scale steep cliffs. Often this is to avoid callous motorcyclists and dogs in pursuit or when surprised by silent mountain bicycles and hikers.

The perception that alarmed sheep just disappear over the next ridge is not the case, and repeated disturbance can lead to abandonment of good feeding grounds. That departure from sites of high nutritional value can translate into low birthweights of the pregnant sheep’s lambs; lighter lambs survive poorly.

Group of desert bighorn sheep (two pregnant females – far right) in flight from jeeps outside the protected boundaries of Canyonlands National Park in Utah. Photo credit: Joel Berger/ WCS.

As we transition beyond the 2024 holiday season of giving, folks with new toys and expendable income may be able to experience nature travel and adventure. Some might enjoy helicopter rides or propelling noisy drones on public lands. Others might recreate with mountain bikes and electric vehicles, or powerful all-terrain vehicles and skis. Regardless of continent, we must make our footprints lighter and move with humility.

While nature-based tourism supports local communities, we cannot ignore the well-being of species or health of the ecosystems that attract us. If we can forego a zest for that ambitious close-up photo, the throttled roar of a motorcycle, or the thrill of an e-bike pushed to its limit down a two-track spoor, we better conserve the species and places we profess to love.

Animals and people will always play; the privileged more so. But whether sledding on hills where ravens enjoy their own occasional slide or riding dirt bikes where pregnant female bighorns eke out a living, all of us must grasp how inequities in privilege may enable our play. Wherever we go, we affect the natural world. We should adjust what we do so other species too can play and make their living.

The post Privileged Play and Anxious Mothers appeared first on Nature.

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