{"id":13185,"date":"2022-04-07T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-07T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/plainenglish.com\/?post_type=lessons&p=13185"},"modified":"2024-03-18T14:45:20","modified_gmt":"2024-03-18T19:45:20","slug":"wildlife-crossings","status":"publish","type":"lessons","link":"https:\/\/plainenglish.com\/lessons\/wildlife-crossings\/","title":{"rendered":"The US is investing in more animal overpasses over highways"},"content":{"rendered":"
What happens if you’re a person that needs to get from one side of a busy highway to another? You probably go over a bridge or through an underpass. But what do you do if you’re an animal?<\/p>\n
Hi there everyone, I’m Jeff; JR is the producer; and you are listening to Plain English, the best way to upgrade your English with current events and trending topics. <\/p>\n
Coming up today: Highways are a fast and convenient way for humans to get from place to place. But for animals, it’s the opposite. Highways don’t help animals get around; actually, they stop animals from getting where they need to go. Engineering created this problem, and engineering has a solution. That’s what we’ll be talking about on today’s lesson.<\/p>\n
In the second half of the lesson, we’ll be talking about the phrasal verb “cut through,” and JR has a song of the week. Let’s get started.<\/p>\n
U.S. Highway 101 hugs the coast of the Pacific Ocean. It’s one of the most beautiful roadways in all of North America; car companies often film commercials showing their vehicles with stunning natural landscapes in the background. Road trippers make the drive from southern California to Washington State, watching as their surroundings transition from palm trees to mountains to cliffs to forest.<\/p>\n
But Highway 101\u2014like many highways around the world\u2014has another legacy. It’s harming the animal species in the area. <\/p>\n
Here’s an example. The road cuts through<\/a> the Santa Monica mountains, which have long<\/a> been home to mountain lions. The mountain lions that live in the area have no safe way to move about their natural habitat: the highway acts as a wall that prevents them from crossing from one area to another. As a result, a small population of mountain lions on one side of the highway is isolated from the larger population on the other side. This has caused the genetic diversity of the smaller population to fall. <\/p>\n What does that mean? With a smaller population, there are fewer potential mates for each male and female mountain lion. And that means that they more often mate with close relatives. Researchers studying photos and autopsies of mountain lions have identified physical deformities that come from lower genetic diversity. Scientists fear that if nothing is done, the smaller population will die out.<\/p>\n