Abayomi, the Brazilian Puma
by Darcy Pattison; illus by Kitty Harvill
32 pages; ages 6-10
Mims House, 2014
In October, 2012 a puma cub was born in Brazil. That's not
unusual because pumas, also known as mountain lions, range across North,
Central and South America. They live in a variety of habitats, from desert to
swamp to forest. This particular puma lived in a forested place close enough to
a city that he could see the skyscrapers every day. But while he and his mom
could see the city, nobody could see them. The pumas moved between forest and
human habitation silently; unseen.
Until one night. The mother, hunting for food, revisited a
chicken coop she’d raided a few weeks earlier. But this time the farmer was
ready for her – with a trap. Unfortunately, the mother was injured and died,
leaving the cub to fend for himself until, a month later, scientists finally
rescued him.
When Darcy Pattison first heard about the orphaned puma cub,
she knew there was a story… but where? Part of that story, she knew, would have to be
about the impact urbanization has on wildlife.
Darcy: Now more people live in urban areas than rural. That
changes the question from “how can we save this species” to one of how we can
live in a way that we share the world so that both humans and wild things can
survive. Some city planners try to create green spaces and corridors that link
forests to each other so that wild populations can move from one place to
another.
Archimedes: What intrigued you so much about this particular
story?
Darcy: The fact that pumas live so close to people and yet
they are invisible. When I looked at a “Google Earth” map of where the chicken
coop is, it’s within a mile or so of a large city. The pumas hunt over wide
areas, so they wander through human territory. But no one has documented their existence.
It’s similar to the cougar (mountain lion) sightings in the northeast and
mid-south. People swear they’ve seen “big cats” but there’s no documented trace
of them. Their secrecy – and their adaptability – are a big part of why I like
this story.
Archimedes: What can people do to make it easier for pumas
and other wildlife to survive in and around expanding urban areas?
Darcy: In Brazil the government established policy that
requires landowners and farmers to set aside a certain amount of land for
wildlife. But there’s more to it than just putting aside acreage. When deciding
to create wildlife corridors – swaths of land that animals can use to travel
from a forest on one side of a city to a forest on the other – land-use
planners need to think about where animals normally go. Most animals follow
rivers and creeks, so working those into the corridor plans makes sense. Road
crossings are the most dangerous. As we become more urban, this problem
increases. The question we need to ask ourselves is: How do we make room for
the animals that we share the planet with?
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