Normally when an animal is scared, it either remains very still and slows its heart rate and metabolism in hope that danger will pass—like a possum playing dead, in an extreme case—or the body revs up to power a “fight or flight” response. But when narwhals get caught in fishing nets, surprisingly, they do both. […]
Tag: Santa Cruz
Human Voices Are Enough to Send Mountain Lions Running
Large carnivores tend to instill fear in us, whether it’s based on myth, or simply a healthy respect for apex predators. But as it turns out, just the sound of our voices is enough to send them running — at least in the case of mountain lions. “We exposed pumas in the Santa Cruz mountains […]