{"id":732,"date":"2025-06-23T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/?p=732"},"modified":"2025-06-27T19:16:01","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T19:16:01","slug":"scientists-put-motion-cameras-along-the-us-mexico-border-to-spy-on-wildlife-the-footage-is-spectacular-and-telling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/23\/scientists-put-motion-cameras-along-the-us-mexico-border-to-spy-on-wildlife-the-footage-is-spectacular-and-telling\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists put motion cameras along the US-Mexico border to spy on wildlife. The footage is spectacular \u2014\u00a0and telling."},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"A

\n\tA puma, or mountain lion, seen by a motion-sensing camera near the border wall. | Courtesy of Ganesh Mar\u00edn<\/a>\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The border wall between the US and Mexico is, of course, a barrier meant to prevent human migrants from crossing into America as they seek work, family, or refuge from violence.  <\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a significant barrier to ranging wildlife. <\/p>\n

The border wall, a centerpiece of President Donald Trump\u2019s agenda, cuts through a rugged, unique ecosystem home to hundreds of native species, from jaguars and pumas to black bears and deer. These animals often need to move to survive, whether to find a source of water or a mate. <\/p>\n

We know the wall is impassable for many species<\/a>, potentially lowering their chance of survival. How exactly the border affects this rich ecosystem, however, has largely been a mystery. <\/p>\n

A new study<\/a>, among the first of its kind, finally offers some answers \u2014 by essentially spying on animals near the border. For the research, ecologist and lead author Ganesh Mar\u00edn, then a doctoral researcher at the University of Arizona, set up 85 motion-sensing cameras in northeastern Sonora, Mexico, along and south of the US border in Arizona and New Mexico. Throughout the course of the research, when animals walked by, the cameras began recording. <\/p>\n

Over roughly two years, from 2020 to 2022, the cameras captured hundreds of hours of footage, including more than 21,000 clips with mammals, said Mar\u00edn, a National Geographic Explorer and postdoctoral scientist at the nonprofit Conservation Science Partners. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis place is so special because you see these tropical species, like ocelots and jaguars, at the same time as beavers and black bears,\u201d Mar\u00edn told me earlier this year when I was reporting on borderland jaguars<\/a>.  <\/p>\n

Some of the recordings are pretty incredible. In this clip, for example, a young puma, or mountain lion, makes a chirping sound, likely calling for its mother. <\/p>\n

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Courtesy of <a href="https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ganesh.marin\/?hl=en" data-type="link" data-id="https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ganesh.marin\/?hl=en">Ganesh Mar\u00edn<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Or check out this jaguar approaching the camera. This particular cat is known as Bonito. Scientists first detected this cat in 2020 and can identify him by his markings. <\/p>\n

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Courtesy of <a href="https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ganesh.marin\/?hl=en" data-type="link" data-id="https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ganesh.marin\/?hl=en">Ganesh Mar\u00edn<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Mar\u00edn\u2019s cameras detected another jaguar, as well, called Valerio. He was seen by cameras multiple times in a protected area known as Cuenca Los Ojos<\/a> just south of the border in Sonora.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Courtesy of <a href="https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ganesh.marin\/?hl=en" data-type="link" data-id="https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ganesh.marin\/?hl=en">Ganesh Mar\u00edn<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The camera traps caught black bears and their cubs\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

Courtesy of <a href="https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ganesh.marin\/?hl=en" data-type="link" data-id="https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ganesh.marin\/?hl=en">Ganesh Mar\u00edn<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Courtesy of <a href="https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ganesh.marin\/?hl=en" data-type="link" data-id="https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ganesh.marin\/?hl=en">Ganesh Mar\u00edn<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2026bobcats and coyotes\u2026 <\/p>\n

\n

Courtesy of <a href="https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ganesh.marin\/?hl=en" data-type="link" data-id="https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ganesh.marin\/?hl=en">Ganesh Mar\u00edn<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Courtesy of <a href="https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ganesh.marin\/?hl=en" data-type="link" data-id="https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ganesh.marin\/?hl=en">Ganesh Mar\u00edn<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2026and even an ocelot, an elusive predatory cat. <\/p>\n

\n

Courtesy of <a href="https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ganesh.marin\/?hl=en" data-type="link" data-id="https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ganesh.marin\/?hl=en">Ganesh Mar\u00edn<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Analyzing the videos ultimately revealed several important details about wildlife in the borderlands. Mar\u00edn found that large mammals, such as black bears and deer, as well as some smaller herbivores, spend less time near the border than in other, more remote stretches of his study region. That suggests these animals avoid border infrastructure. <\/p>\n

Other species, like the pronghorn, which have been seen on the US side of the border, didn\u2019t appear in his cameras at all. That may be because they have trouble crossing a highway that runs roughly parallel to the border in Sonora, according to Mar\u00edn and his co-author, John L. Koprowski, a biologist at the University of Wyoming.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, smaller common predators like coyotes and bobcats appeared more tolerant to human activity: They were more likely to use habitats with cattle, cars, and dirt roads, according to the footage. <\/p>\n

The study adds to a growing body of research showing that the border and infrastructure around it is disrupting wild animal communities. <\/p>\n

\u201cAmazing wildlife is present in the borderlands due to the binational efforts to protect and restore the flow of life between both countries,\u201d Mar\u00edn said in an email. \u201cWe should not define this beautiful region and the creatures that roam by the existence of an imposed division.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A puma, or mountain lion, seen by a motion-sensing camera near the border wall. | Courtesy of Ganesh Mar\u00edn The border wall between the US and Mexico is, of course, a barrier meant to prevent human migrants from crossing into America as they seek work, family, or refuge from violence.   It\u2019s also a significant…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":734,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=732"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":735,"href":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732\/revisions\/735"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}