As billions of people across the planet have retreated indoors to combat the spread of the coronavirus, wildlife roams more freely. Empty streets and the absence of people have made animals bolder while animals normally dependent on tourists, desperately seek food.
Packs of jackals have taken over a park in the heart of Tel Aviv in Israel. Wild boars have been spotted in the Israeli city of Haifa.
A pack of jackals eat dog food that was left for them by an Israeli woman at Hayarkon Park, in Tel Aviv, Israel, April 11, 2020. The coronavirus crisis has cleared the way for packs of jackals to take over this urban oasis in the heart of the city.
Oded Balilty/AP
A wild boar roams a street of the Carmel neighborhood, in the northern city of Haifa, Israel, April 11, 2020.
Abir Sultan/EPA via Shutterstock
With Chile under a nighttime curfew, a wild puma was captured wandering around the deserted capital of Santiago.
An approximately one-year-old puma roams the streets of Santiago, on March 24, 2020, which according to the Agricultural and Livestock Service came down from the nearby mountains in search of food as fewer people are on the streets due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
ATON CHILE/AFP via Getty Images
The numbers of pink flamingos may be the highest since experts began keeping records 45 years ago in Aigues-Mortes in hte Camargue region of southern France, said Thierry Marmol, guardian of the lands. France's two months of strict confinement may well be the reason.
A pink flamingo stands with flamingo chicks in a pen in Aigues-Mortes, near Montpellier, southern France, on Aug. 5, 2020, during a tagging and controlling operation of the chicks to monitor the evolution of the species. The number of pink flamingos may be the highest since experts began keeping records 45 years ago, said Thierry Marmol, guardian of the lands.
Christophe Simon/AFP via Getty Images
According to the Hindustan Times, the Bombay Natural History Society estimated that the number of flamingos are 25% more than in 2019 in the Talawe wetlands and other areas of Mumbai, India. The lockdown means a lack of human interference in their obtaining food and roosting. A successful breeding season two years ago also likely plays a role in the large numbers.
Flamingos are seen in huge numbers in Talawe wetland during India's nationwide lockdown, April 18, 2020, in Mumbai.
Pratik Chorge/Hindustan Times via Getty Images
A red fox and her pups were spotted in Toronto. According to city officials, the increase in sightings can likely be attributed to the warmer weather, as well fewer people in normally crowded places.
Fox cubs venture out from their den under a popular boardwalk alongside Lake Ontario, in Toronto, Canada April 22, 2020.
Carlos Osorio/Reuters
Lower maritime traffic and a ban on fishing are part of the lockdown measures in place in Istanbul since April 23rd. Dolphins are swimming near the shoreline these days in the Bosphorus.
In the waters of the Bosphorus, dolphins are swimming these days near the shoreline in Turkey's largest city Istanbul with lower local maritime traffic and a ban on fishing as part of the lockdown since April 23rd to stem the spread of the COVID-19.
Yasin Akgul/AFP via Getty Images
Sea lions have taken over an Argentinian port, some seen sauntering up to a shuttered storefront.
A sea lion is seen on a sidewalk of Mar del Plata harbor during the COVID-19 lockdown, in Mar del Plata, some 400 km south of Buenos Aires, Argentina, on April 16, 2020.
Mara Sosti/AFP via Getty Images
Lions sleeping on a road, normally filled with tourists, are an unusual site during the day in Kruger National Park in South Africa.
Lions sleeping on a road are an usual site during daytime in Kruger National Park in South Africa, April 15, 2020. The road would normally have tourist traffic, but for the pandemic lockdown in the country.
Richard Sowry/Kruger National Park
Hundreds of monkeys have taken over streets around the Indian president’s palace during the country’s lockdown.
Monkeys climb on a car as they are being fed with potatoes by a resident at Ode village, March 25, 2020, during the first day of a 21-day government-imposed nationwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some 25 kms from Ahmedabad, India.
Troops of monkeys, normally dependent on tourists for food inside the Prang Sam Yod temple complex, in Lopburi, Thailand, boldly seek food outside. The temple monkeys were seen on social media violently clashing with monkeys from the surrounding area.
A woman watches monkeys as they search of food in front of her shop in front of Prang Sam Yod temple in Lopburi, Thailand, March 17, 2020.
Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters
For weeks in the spring, coyotes have been spotted on San Francisco's empty streets. At least one has been seen near the Golden Gate Bridge.
A coyote stands by the roadside, as the spread of the coronavirus pandemic continues, at Golden Gate Bridge View Vista Point across from San Francisco, April 7, 2020.
Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
Thousands of birds flocked to Agua Dulce beach, normally thronged with people in Lima, Peru.
Thousands of birds flock to Agua Dulce beach now largely absent of beachgoers in Lima, Peru, March 24, 2020. The birds began swarming the empty shores since Peru's president declared a state emergency and ordered people to stay home because of the spread of COVID-19. Peru confirmed its first coronavirus case on March 6.
Raccoons, prominent in urban areas, are being spotted more frequently.
A raccoon walks in almost deserted Central Park, April 16, 2020 in New York City. Gone are the softball games, horse-drawn carriages and hordes of tourists. In their place, pronounced birdsong, solitary walks and renewed appreciation for Central Park's beauty and more room to play for the resident wildlife.
Mountain goats who live on the rocky Great Orme in Wales are usually only occasional visitors to the seaside town of Llandudno. They've been increasingly drawn to the area by the lack of people during the coronavirus lockdown.
Mountain goats roam the streets of LLandudno, on March 31, 2020, in Llandudno, Wales. The goats normally live on the rocky Great Orme, but occasional visitors to the seaside town. They've been drawn by the lack of people during the coronavirus lockdown.
In Florida, the Loggerhead Marinelife Center reported an increase in leatherback turtles this year, though numbers have dropped since the beginning of this month. According to Dr. Justin Perrault, director of research, the turtles have been bigger and healthier. Though the good news may have nothing to do with fewer people on the beach, fewer people means fewer interactions, which is good for the animals overall.
And endangered turtles seem to nest in greater numbers along beaches suddenly empty of tourists. Thailand reported 11 leatherback turtle nesting sites since November, the largest increase in two decades.
A newly-hatched baby leatherback sea turtle makes its way to the sea for the first time at a beach in Phanga Nga district, Thailand, March 27, 2020.
Mongkhonsawat Leungvorapan/Reuters
The European roe deer is endemic to the Tatara Mountains straddling Poland and Slovakia. The animals have been seen more freely roaming towns and cities they previously avoided.
Five female roe deer and a young fawn roam on a nearly-empty sidewalk in Zakopane, southern Poland, April 16, 2020.
Grzegorz Momot/EPA via Shutterstock
Fallow deer, semi-urban deer, are a regular sight in the area around the park in Romford, England, but with quieter spaces due to the nationwide lockdown, the deer have staked a claim on new territories.
Fallow deer from Dagnam Park rest and graze on the grass outside homes on a housing estate in Harold Hill, near Romford, England, on April 02, 2020. The semi-urban deer are a regular sight in the area around the park, but as the roads have become quieter due to the nationwide lockdown, the deer have staked a claim on new territories in the vicinity.
