I came across this video last week.

It’s a bird’s-eye view of a mother duck crossing a busy highway with her baby ducklings. It’s also a stunning reminder that we live among wildlife (no matter how small) and that our way of life impacts how animals survive.

Like the ducks in the video, other animals have to cross highways and roads to get to their habitats or their food. Many animals also face other dangers on the border, like political battles over boundaries or private landowners who do not want animals to cross their lands. Wildlife migration corridors are threatened by man-made obstacles that wild animals can’t navigate. Many of the threats to migration corridors are due to habitat loss, such as deforestation.

This video outlines the dangers jaguars face in Mexico and South America, and efforts the Wildlife Conservation Society is making in order to allow jaguars to roam their natural corridor. It also explains the challenges the group faces in working with communities to make changes. WCS is also currently working on conserving corridors in the American West; wildlife corridors are impacted by us all over the world.

In our last Media Monday, I suggested taking a week to learn about your child’s favorite animals. Take some time this week to look at challenges the animals face due to human impacts on the environment.

What actions can you take to help your child’s favorite animals? What organizations are working to help these animals and what solutions are they proposing? If the animals you’ve been studying with your child do not face any major challenges, how are they similar to animals that are? What can you do with your family to make choices that help the animals even if it’s in a small way?

Leave a comment and let us know what you’re discovering about animal corridors!