ALWRI research featured in High Country News

Curious elk calf stands at the shoulder of an adult elk, looking at the lens of a camera trap.

New study uses trail cameras and speakers to isolate what human sounds do to animals.

This month, High Country News featured an article on current research, co-led by ALWRI’s Kathy Zeller, which investigates the effects of recreation noise on animal behavior in Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forest.

While previous studies have shown that human presence can negatively impact animal behavior, most of this research has not tried to tease out what it is about us that animals find so bothersome.

According to Zeller, “more often than not, [wildlife] probably hear us before they see us, and so we can rarely observe if it is a negative response”. To address this, the researchers designed a project that allows them to remotely observe the reactions of animals to noise associated with recreation. To learn more about this research and to read the full article, visit High Country News, “When the woods get noisy, the animals get nervous”.