The study, says Kays, “shows how individual decisions by homeowners can have a big impact on wildlife living in the area.” In a report published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, they explain that bird feeders and other supplemental food sources, along with opportunities for shelter, are the key factors that attract wildlife to the suburbs. Examining images recorded during an eight-month period, the researchers identified seven mammal species that appear more frequently in peoples’ yards than in surrounding forested areas, including gray and red (above) foxes, Virginia opossums and eastern cottontail rabbits. For comparison, they also placed cameras in local forests and other rural sites. Working in two North Carolina metropolitan areas, Kays’ team set up cameras with motion sensors in 58 suburban yards. “We’re finding that certain mammals actually do pretty well around people,” he says. But a recent study of residential backyards conducted by Kays and colleagues from the University of Montana reveal that wildlife often is more abundant and diverse in suburban neighborhoods than in nearby wild places. “There’s this idea that nature and humans don’t coexist,” says North Carolina State University ecologist Roland Kays. An abundance of suburban wildlife, mowing milkweed for monarchs and glowing platypuses
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