Mammals In Our MidstConservationist E. O. Wilson coined the term biophilia as "the urge to affiliate with other forms of life”. In the past 100-150 years, during the buildup of cities, very little consideration was given to accommodating natural habitats and ecosystems. Even most parks were designed for beautification and human recreation, not wildlife. The result was that most wildlife was pushed out of cities. Ironically, because of relatively abundant food and water sources, some wildlife found a way to endure in urban areas. A nascent body of research related to biophilia is sweeping the academic and activists world globally. Biophilia acknowledges cities as human-driven ecosystems and studies how to design urban ecosystems to meet both human needs and indigenous flora and fauna needs. Indeed, strong drivers of this relatively new field are climate change and sea level rise combined with unprecedented rate of wildlife species collapse. I try imagining what the Ballona Wetlands area was like 100-200 years ago. I imagine it was teaming with wildlife, including a much wider a variety of land and sea mammals, shore, marsh, and riparian birds, and many other species. Only a handful of the original species have managed to endure, even as challenges to their very survival continue to mount. Ironically wildlife can no longer survive without us. I hope for all our sakes we can make sure their progeny still has a home among our progeny a hundred years hence. Here are a few of our mammal neighbors I’ve been lucky enough to photograph. I look forward to learning how biophilia research and outreach influences urban landscape designs that integrate biophilia and the restoration of our native biodiversity. California Coyote
Botta's Pocket Gopher
California Ground Squirrel
Desert Cottontail
Juvenile California Sea Lion
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Keywords:
Ballona Photography,
Ballona Wetlands,
Bev-Sue Powers,
Biophilia,
Botta's Mole,
California Ground Squirrel,
California Sea Lion,
Coyote,
Desert Cottontail,
Urban Wildlife
Comments
Leslie Oliver(non-registered)
Thank you for writing this... Very interesting, but sad. Your pictures of our little 'neighbors' are great! Thanks again!
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