Our Wild World

Scary words. What does this look like? My guest Tiffany Yap, a scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), explains with California cougars. Tiffany is one of the authors of the petition to add cougars to the California Endangered Species Act (CESA). The listing would create the umbrella for lions, by factoring in connectivity between genetically distinct sub-populations in fractured landscapes with impenetrable boundaries the likes of mega-freeways and housing developments, which can lead to a biodiversity end-game- the extreme isolation or island pockets of mega-fauna leading into a vortex of inbreeding, population depressions and high mortality rates, as well as more human-livestock-lion conflicts. A CESA listing would mandate better connectivity in intra-agency planning of utilities, roads and housing to build in wildlife corridors which would enhance the lions resilience, genetic diversity and benefit everything under the lion’s umbrella.