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In the 19th and early 20th centuries, before the modern environmental movement emerged, Americans generally saw wild animals as threats. Hunters earned bounties for killing wolves, black bears and other native species that could attack people or livestock.
Today, many people want to protect wildlife, including predators, and help them become reestablished in areas where they once were present. In two surveys, Colorado State University researchers Kevin Crooks and Rebecca Niemiec found that large shares of state residents disapproved of hunting black bears and mountain lions – especially for purposes unrelated to public safety, such as collecting trophies or killing the animals for meat. As attitudes toward hunting
shift, wildlife agencies may need to reexamine “how and for whom they manage wild animals,” the authors observe.
Also in this week’s science news:
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In Colorado, many people run, bike and climb in mountain lion habitat.
DEA/ C. Dani I. Jeske/De Agostini via Getty Images
Kevin Crooks, Colorado State University; Rebecca Niemiec, Colorado State University
Colorado has spectacular scenery, but it comes with wild animals, and they sometimes wander into town. A ballot measure that would ban hunting wild cats is the latest test of public views on hunting.
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Fishermen on Mayotte, where the local Maore language has no words to easily translate ‘climate change.’
Mwanasimba via Wikimedia
Miki Mori, Université de Mayotte
On an island off Africa where one of the local languages has no established words for climate change, a researcher discovers lessons for everyone in discussing climate change.
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Sunflowers use tiny movements to follow the Sun’s path throughout the day.
AP Photo/Charlie Riedel
Chantal Nguyen, University of Colorado Boulder
Plants don’t just grow straight up. They can move in loopy and zigzagging ways to get more sunshine. And studying these movements goes all the way back to Darwin in the 19th century.
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Justine Law, Sonoma State University
There’s a widespread argument that ‘poachers’ are responsible for the scarcity of wild ginseng. But a scholar who has interviewed diggers explains that most of them are good stewards.
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Alex Hoagland, University of Toronto; Michal Horný, UMass Amherst
Patients often bear the cost of unexpected bills for basic preventive services such as wellness visits and cancer screenings.
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Mahshid Ahmadi, University of Tennessee
Some materials react and generate potentially helpful particles when exposed to light. Analytical AI can help scientists sort through materials to find ones with this property.
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Shuang-Ye Wu, University of Dayton
As a record-hot summer comes to a close, an atmospheric scientist explains how global warming drove long periods of extreme heat.
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Margaret Lowenstein, University of Pennsylvania
After their initial visit, 69% of patients returned to the van at least four times for follow-ups.
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Jian Liu, University of Tennessee
Phones that transmit odors sound like science fiction, but researchers are working on making them real.
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Joan Casey, University of Washington; Rachel Morello-Frosch, University of California, Berkeley
Which is riskier for your health: a few days of very bad PM₂.₅ exposure or many more days of slightly bad exposure? Researchers developed new metrics to provide better answers.
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Elizabeth Eckelkamp, University of Tennessee
Dairy farms are struggling to survive as production costs exceed sales. The result, consolidation, with more cows on bigger farms, has an impact on communities and knowing where your food comes from.
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