As humans retreat into their homes as more and more countries go under coronavirus lockdown, wild animals are slipping cover to explore the empty streets of some of our biggest cities.

Wild boars have descended from the hills around Barcelona while sika deer are nosing their way around the deserted metro stations of Nara, Japan.

Indian social media has gone wild about footage of a stag scampering through Dehradun, the capital of the northern state of Uttarakhand.

Gangs of wild turkeys have been strutting the streets of Oakland, California, while a puma turned up in the center of the Chilean capital Santiago, which is under curfew.

“This is the habitat they once had and that we’ve taken away from them,” said Marcelo Giagnoni, the head of Chile’s agricultural and livestock service that helped police capture the curious big cat.

While the dawn and dusk choruses have been bringing comfort to many quarantined city dwellers, French Natural History Museum’s acoustics specialist Jerome Sueur said that doesn’t mean there are more urban birds than before.

It is more that with reduced traffic noise we can hear them better. Some birds “stop singing when there is noise, so now they are letting themselves go.”

With the hunting season suspended in several European countries, this promises to be a spring and possibly a summer of love for the animal kingdom.

It is certainly great news for species like the common toad and the spotted salamander. The amorous amphibians are being spared from being “crushed crossing busy roads” in their haste to find a mate, said Jean-Noel Rieffel of the French biodiversity office (OFB).

With few dog walkers to disturb them, baby fawns are also getting an idyllic start to life while birds like Mediterranean gulls that nest along the sandy banks of rivers are being left undisturbed.

However, there are also down sides to the lockdown for nature.

Work to limit invasive species has been all but halted, cautioned Loic Obled of the OFB, as well as that to help endangered species.

And when the lockdown finally ends, Rieffel warned that “people will have a need of nature and there is a risk of too many visitors to natural parks, which won’t be good for the flora and fauna.”

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【闲适恬静的】 xiánshì tiánjìng de idyllic extremely happy, peaceful, or picturesque

【动物群】dòngwù qún fauna the animals characteristic of a region, period, or special environment

随着越来越多国家因疫情而采取封锁措施，人们闭门不出，野生动物开始从隐蔽处走出来，到一些大城市空荡荡的街道上转悠。

野猪从巴塞罗那附近的山上下来了，梅花鹿则在日本奈良人烟稀少的地铁站周围探头探脑。

印度社交媒体最近在疯传一个雄鹿在北阿坎德邦首府德拉敦惊惶奔跑的视频。

成群的野火鸡在美国加州奥克兰的街道上大摇大摆地行走，一头美洲狮则出现在宵禁后的智利首都圣地亚哥的市中心。

智利农牧服务部主任马塞洛▪加格诺尼说：“这里是美洲狮原来的栖息地，

后来被我们夺走了。” 农牧服务部协助警方抓获了这只好奇的美洲狮。

对很多隔离在家的城市居民而言，

清晨和傍晚的鸟鸣声给他们带来了安

慰，但法国国家博物馆的声学专家杰罗姆▪苏尔表示，这并不意味着城里的鸟比以前多了。主要是因为交通噪声减少了，所以我们能更清楚地听到鸟叫。也有些鸟“在有噪音时会停止歌唱，所以现在它们可以放声歌唱了”。

由于好几个欧洲国家的狩猎季都中止了，这个春天（可能还有夏天）将是动物王国的恋爱季。法国生物多样性办公室的让▪诺埃尔▪烈菲说，这对于大蟾蜍和斑点火蜥蜴等物种来说当然是好消息。这些多情的两栖动物不会再因为急于交配而“在穿越交通繁忙的道路时被车碾死”。

没有遛狗人的打扰，幼鹿也能悠闲地开始自己的生活，而地中海鸥等鸟类则可以在河边的沙滩上不受打扰地筑巢。

不过，封锁期也有不利于自然的一面。

法国生物多样性办公室的卢瓦克▪奥布莱提醒道，限制侵略性物种和帮助濒危物种的工作也停下来了。

烈菲警告说，在封锁最终结束后“人们将对自然有强烈需求，自然公园可能会人满为患，对动植物都不是什么好事”。(chinadaily.com.cn)