Where are the animals?

[u/YungCasheMayne22]

So I regularly drive from San Diego to Vegas, LA and Arizona. Today I drove from SD to Yuma. I’ve noticed that when I get to those long stretches of land that have no buildings and are just dirt/rocks/mountains, I don’t see any animals. In the city I see a few coyotes, but I always wondered why I have never seen any animals in the mountains and flat land while driving through. I played Oregon trail a lot when growing up so I thought those animals were common in that kind of terrain. I drive during all hours of the day and night and nothing. Where are they? Are they extinct.

[u/JohnMichaels19]

They are where the humans (especially in their cars) are not. The desert is a big place

[u/gleaming-the-cubicle]

Probably avoiding the highway

[u/East-Bike4808]

There just isn’t a large wildlife density in the open desert, and they’re not out in the daytime.

I played Oregon trail…

They never went anywhere that south in the game through the Sonoran desert. You were in like Idaho at this longitude.

This was the whole problem going south… to go far enough south to avoid the Rockies you end up south of the Colorado River (or else it’s still pretty mountainous), and then to cross it you have to do it at Yuma Crossing (before we built anything over it), and to get to Yuma you had to go way south into the desert.

[u/MaisyinAZ]

Desert animals also tend to be nocturnal

[u/damutecebu]

If you were an animal, would you live in the middle of the desert? Or would live closer to the city where there is more people and food?

This is why you see coyotes in metropolitan areas. This is why you see more deer in populated areas as well.

[u/Affectionate_Sort_78 → u/damutecebu]

Well, I’d consider internet access, so….

[u/PotentialAcadia460]

Quite a lot of animals are down significantly in numbers from where they were in the Oregon Trail days.

In addition, oftentimes places that are difficult for humans to live/settle are also difficult places for many animals to live/settle.

[u/DrawingTypical5804]

Animals are out of site during day light. I suggest looking the hour before/after sunrise/sunset for the best chance of seeing them.

Additionally, lots of places are building land bridges for animals to cross roads safely. It greatly reduces the amount of animals hit while attempting to cross the road.

[u/GreenYellowDucks]

That is a desert, they notoriously don’t have a lot of large animals that live there. The Mojave desert is the hottest desert in the world and that is from east LA to Vegas.

For Oregon trail that was up through Colorado Wyoming Idaho and Oregon where you will see bears, mountain goats, eagles, moose, deer etc. with some bobcats, wolves and mountain lions but you don’t see those frequently.

Most common would be deer and mountain goats along the road in Colorado mountains

[u/KerberosPanzerCop]

A lot of animals rely on hiding to survive lol

Also a lot of animals are nocturnal, especially in arid/desert environments like California

And yes, we hunted a lot of animals to extinction/near extinction

It also depends on where you live. I live in Colorado and I see deer, turkey, and coyotes every day. Sometimes I see bears and bighorn sheep around. If I drive out east I see a herds of pronghorn grazing

[u/maroongrad]

Back to middle school science. Carrying Capacity. There is not a lot of greenery, so not a lot of producers. That means a far smaller number of herbivores, and a far smaller number of predators. There's a lot less to eat. What you DO still see are ants and other insects, but at a much lower level, and a few predators and a few scavengers but there just won't be a lot of biomass. The bottom level of that food pyramid is tiny. It's not without life entirely, but you're talking a dramatically lesser amount. The number of organisms in a square mile is probably about the same as in a single suburban non-desert yard.

[u/bootstrap1140]

theyre there, you just dont see em. most animals arent exactly hanging out by the interstate

[u/More_Shoulder_9210]

They are on the Oregon Trail, not in the desert. If you want to see animals in the desert, wander around at night. They will find you, and it won't be pleasant.

[u/axolotlorange]

Desert animals are often not out during the day.

And they aren’t interested in being near humans/cars.

Also there aren’t that many. It’s a desert, there is limited food and water.

[u/Hefty-Resort871]

The freeway is loud and dangerous. Animals generally avoid places like that.

[u/green_meklar]

Animals in real life are a lot rarer than they are in Oregon Trail.

As far as mammals go specifically, we've been so efficient at subjugating the Earth's ecosystem for artificial purposes that human and livestock biomass now massively dominate all wild mammal biomass.

[u/Dependent_Remove_326]

You drive through the desert and wonder where all the animals are? Somebody flunked 6th grade science.