Love this question! For our domesticated kitties, it's really stimulating for them to be able to follow that drive they have for chasing (and animals have been known to chase for fun in the wild as well). It's a great way to give a cat what it needs without having it go outdoors and chase/eat wild birds.

Which wild animals let humans be part of their community? A list would be nc.

I have seen a documentary about a guy who became part of a wild hyena pack by a lot of effort.

Also how many years for humans to learn the body language of animals?

So far, one of the most interesting things that we're seeing with some coyotes we're studying in Los Angeles is that their movements can be predicted not just by ecological factors (like vegetation, habitat, and water availability), but also by sociocultural and public health-related factors, like pollution and median income. But some of them are doing some counterintuitive things (like moving toward more polluted areas, rather than away from those areas). We have a lot of hypotheses about this, such as 1) perhaps there is more trash to access in these areas, 2) perhaps there are more rodents to eat in these areas, and 3) perhaps prey animals in these polluted areas are sicker and weaker and easier to hunt. Stay tuned!

I feel like I should have gotten this concept a while ago... thank you for informing me.

We have a band, or pack, of coyotes in our area. They seem to move from area to area. We hear them close-by about once or twice per month. That may be evidence of the size of their territory. We live in remote agricultural North Carolina. The local brand of "hazing" is usually poorly-aimed small arms fire, and it seems effective. Since we have chickens, dogs, barn cats and horses, how do you recommend we take our homestead off of their menu? I certainly don't want to harm them, I believe all species are important to our ecosystem. I just don't want my chickens to become part of their ecosystem. :)

Don't worry- you are not behind in any way!!

I highly recommend reaching out to the people who you admire and/or who have careers similar to what you would like to be in, and asking them questions/having informational interviews with them. Meanwhile, there are a good number of entry-level paid internships and paid seasonal positions in wildlife management/monitoring if you have the ability to tap into those. I recommend visiting the Texas A&M Job Board (https://wfscjobs.tamu.edu/job-board/) for a comprehensive list of most opportunities. This is largely for US-based positions though, and I'm not sure where you're located.

Also, if research interests you, look into graduate programs in wildlife-related topics - there are often scholarships or teaching assistantships available to help get you through grad school.

The problem isn't that bats are a good disease vector. The problem is that any virus that is well adapted to infect bats is capable of operating in higher temperatures than humans can survive.

One of humans' best defenses against a virus is a fever, which limits a viruses ability to fold proteins and replicate itself. But, bats' normal body temp during activity often reaches or exceeds 40C (104F). Normal human body temperature is 36C (98.6F). Thus, the human immune system isn't well adapted to combat viruses that are found in bats. By the time our vodies are hot enough to combat the virus, our brains are cooked.

Viruses sometimes jump from animals to people but are unable to transmit further. But, sometimes, they also mutate and become transmissible from human to human, and that's a problem. The more time humans spend in close proximity to large quantities of non-domestic animals. The more likely it is to see an infection jump across species.

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The coyotes are unlikely to pose a risk to you (humans). Depending on their boldness level (there's evidence that shows more boldness is usually influenced by unintentional or intentional human feeding of coyotes), they could pose a threat to, say, a small off-leash dog. The best thing you can do is make sure all of your trash/compost/other attractants are secured, keep dogs on leash (and cats indoors), and make sure to haze any coyotes that are coming too near. Hazing in this case would be making yourself big and loud, waving your arms, shaking a can of coins, yelling "Go away coyote!" etc., until the coyote completely leaves the area. Doing so consistently (and making sure your neighbors also know to do so) will help coyotes to maintain their natural wariness of people and not get into trouble.

When you say "fairly high" how does that compare to like cats and dogs? I only ask because they also have a warmer body temperature and was wondering if we could see a similar, if downplayed, effect

Not sure what your exact set up is, but they're very likely checking out the fence while also simultaneously being curious about your dogs. There have been cases of coyotes playing with or attempting to play with dogs. If your dogs are small and free-roaming the yard, the coyotes could also (I'm sorry to say) be interested in whether they could be snacks. But if they're bigger dogs, it's more likely to be simple curiosity. Also, if your fence is new, the yotes might be scoping it out to see what exactly it is.

I'm a bit of a purist, I think. I trust (?) evolution, in some sense, and don't think that we should be meddling with it on a broad scale. If we're really giving such thoughts the time of day...history has shown time and again that humans can't possibly understand all of the complex and nuanced ecological connections on our planet. Not-fully-informed meddling with ecologies- such as non-native species management - has already done quite a bit of harm. Furthermore, without carnivores, there are many obvious ways that our ecosystems would be completely thrown out of balance (i.e., imagine what happens when the planet is overrun by herbivores who are eating all of the vegetation).

To add to the other answers. The process of oxygenation of the cells from the capillaries is called diffusion. Basically the capillary wall is thin enough, that it is leaking Oxygen molecules to the surrounding tissues. The rate of oxygenation depends on partial pressure of oxygen and carbon dioxide (and some other factors) in the surrounding tissues, but usually you can't diffuse farther then a few mm's in a living organism.

Diffusion is mostly used by insects as the main oxygenation process since they are small enough to just have some air filled pipes (tracheas) inside their bodies where the oxygen is directly absorbed from the air.

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Fortunately the young ones are the ones most likely to do it, so they haven't yet managed to break through and give me flat tires. If it was an adult, that would be a different story. When I feel like they're getting a bit too comfortable chewing, I periodically shoo them off - which can be a bit tricky since I don't want to actually scare them away as I'm observing them. If I ever do get a flat tire while sitting at a den, I'm not entirely sure what I'll do ;).

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Thanks for asking this question. It's totally normal for us to want to connect with animals- especially as many cultures have increasingly disconnected ourselves from nature.

However, I am highly against having a hyena (or any other wild animal) as a pet -- spotted hyenas in particular are apex predators and their evolutionary drive to do what they do can't be domesticated (definitely not in one animal, and likely not over generations either). Brown hyenas, striped hyenas, and spotties are all bone-crushing/bone-cracking hyenas, with very strong jaws capable of quite a bit of damage. And of course, having a hyena as a pet wouldn't be very kind to them since it would prevent them from living out their natural lives, and they likely wouldn't get everything that they have evolved to need. Spotted hyenas, for example, are highly social and intelligent animals that live in groups called "clans", which they would not have access to as a pet. Etc.

Do you think there'll ever be a boy born who can swim faster than a shark?

By eating mosquitoes and slowing the spread of malaria and yellow fever, bats prevent more diseases than they spread. As long as you don't have bats living in your house and you're not farming and eating bats, having bats around turns out to be good for you.

Great question! I'll get started early with this one :).

People usually become a National Geographic Explorer through either 1) applying for and receiving funding (for research, storytelling, media creation, conservation, etc.) from National Geographic Society, or 2) being selected for an award (such as the Wayfinder Award) by National Geographic Society. After that, you're an Explorer for life!

> As to the rest, I'm sure you know "species" denotes "a population capable of producing viable offspring." So why would we ever use a different word?

A different word for what?

The term "species" predates the theory of evolution. If you study taxonomy and phylogenetics, you will quickly find out how arbitrary it is and that there are many exceptions.

> A hybrid, by definition in the context of biological evolution, is "offspring produced by more than one species." That's an explicit indication regarding the presence of distinct populations or a statement about the capacity to produce viable offspring.

You were talking about the general definition of the term, not about its application in a particular context. And again, not all inter-species hybrids are infertile. See for example bovine hybrids: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovid_hybrid

In particular, beefalo is a fertile hybrid breed resulting from crossing species of different genus. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beefalo

Similarly, many commercial plants are result of hybridization. The [brassica] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brassica genus is famous for this, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_of_U

> Like taxonomy as you mentioned above, asserting primacy to the factor of a population is more on the arbitrary side of things. It's a blurred line in many respects. Viability, however, is not.

Turns out it is. This is why we are usually talking in terms of populations.

> Most people tend to think of species as a label.

And they would be right. It a rather arbitrary label that predates the theory of evolution. What is species and what is sub-species is not well defined and depends whether one is "splitter" or "clumper".

> mixed-plant offspring "hybrids" is, for lack of a better description, kind of missing the point in so many ways.

You haven't demonstrated what point.

The rest is pseudoscientific nonsense anyway. You clearly lack the understanding of terms like "gene flow" and are instead trying to describe "diffusion of alleles between populations" in a paragraph of blabbering.

> So yeah, "hybrid" absolutely does imply that the offspring are not viable

I have clearly demonstrated that they are viable.

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Hello, Dr. Wilkinson. Can you link us to a favorite Taiko performance? I would love to hear something that is complex and active. Thank you.

I’ve read that Coyotes diets account for more than 60% of house pets.. Do you believe this is a growing issue as Coyotes start to wander farther and farther?

Are there any consistent animal behaviors in a surprise encounter when a human:

Openly displays genuine fear

Attempts to conceal fear

Is genuinely unafraid

Is genuinely unafraid but fakes the appearance of fear