郊狼抢先登上101号公路野生动物通道桥面：正式开通前近一个月被相机拍到
位于加州洛杉矶县Agoura Hills市的Wallis Annenberg野生动物通道还没有正式开通，第一位「抢跑」的访客已经来了。美国国家公园管理局圣莫尼卡山国家休闲区11月5日分享的远程相机画面显示，一只郊狼在凌晨1时35分左右出现在通道桥面上、向北移动——这是这座尚未完工的通道上首次记录到大型哺乳动物登上桥面本身。画面由两台相机拍到，桥面下方就是美国101号公路的10条车道，每天有超过30万辆车从那里经过。
公园管理局在Instagram上写道：「先是斜坡，现在是通道本身——哇！野生动物一点时间都不浪费！」管理局还说，看到野生动物在施工尚未结束时就开始探索这座建筑「令人无比兴奋」，通道原定12月2日才正式向野生动物开放，「但动物们显然没有收到通知」。这段画面随即在社交平台扩散，本地生活媒体Secret Los Angeles等账号跟进转发。
这已是这座通道迎来的第二位郊狼访客。10月28日清晨6时过后，一只郊狼被拍到爬上通道南侧的斜坡，成为首只登上该建筑的大型哺乳动物；但当时连接两段跨桥的土坡尚未堆够高度，它没能走完全程，国家公园管理局11月4日才公布这张照片。据《洛杉矶时报》报道，Wildlife Crossing Fund负责人Beth Pratt此前一直催促公园管理局生物学家Jeff Sikich把相机对准通道南侧的路径，相机10月14日装好、两周后就拍到了第一只郊狼。两人此前还打过赌：Sikich猜第一个用桥的会是郊狼，Pratt猜的是骡鹿。看到第一张照片时，Pratt说：「我的天，它已经在工作了。」
生物学家11月3日又在通道桥面上新装了多台相机，这次凌晨拍到的郊狼是否与10月28日那只是同一只，目前还不能确定；科学家也尚未确认它是否已经完整走通全程。研究团队计划用50多台静态相机、热成像视频相机以及GPS项圈长期追踪美洲狮、短尾猫、郊狼、骡鹿和灰狐如何接近并使用这座通道。
这座通道造价约1.14亿美元，2022年动工，混凝土主体长约210英尺、宽约174英尺，被称为同类中全球最大的野生动物通道。它横跨101号公路与Agoura Road，意在把被公路切断数十年的圣莫尼卡山与Simi Hills栖息地重新连起来，让美洲狮等动物能安全往来、改善因近亲繁殖而恶化的基因多样性。公园管理局野生动物部门负责人Seth Riley说，这不只是看动物会不会用桥的问题，「我们想弄清它在多大程度上能重新连接一个被公路分隔了几十年的生态系统，这是一个大得多的科学问题，需要数年才能回答」。通道的剪彩仪式定于12月2日举行。
Coyote Beats the Ribbon-Cutting: Caught on Camera on the Deck of the 101 Wildlife Crossing Weeks Before It Opens
The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing in Agoura Hills, Los Angeles County, California, has not officially opened yet, but its first eager visitor has already arrived. Remote-camera images shared on November 5 by the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area of the National Park Service show a coyote on the deck of the crossing at about 1:35 a.m., moving northward — the first large mammal documented on the deck of the still-unfinished structure itself. Two cameras recorded the animal, directly above the ten lanes of U.S. Highway 101, where more than 300,000 vehicles pass every day.
"First the slope, now the crossing itself – WOW! The wildlife isn't wasting any time!" the park wrote on Instagram. Seeing wildlife explore the structure before construction is even finished is "incredibly exciting," the park said, adding that the crossing is scheduled to officially open to wildlife on December 2, "but apparently the animals didn't get the memo." The images quickly spread on social media, with local outlets such as Secret Los Angeles sharing the news.
It was the crossing's second coyote visitor. Shortly after 6 a.m. on October 28, a coyote was photographed climbing the structure's southern slope, becoming the first large mammal known to climb onto it; at the time, the soil linking the crossing's two spans had not been built up high enough for it to travel the full route, and the Park Service released that photo only on November 4. According to the Los Angeles Times, Beth Pratt of the Wildlife Crossing Fund had pressed Park Service biologist Jeff Sikich to aim a camera at the path toward the crossing's southern side; the camera was installed on October 14 and recorded the first coyote two weeks later. The two had also made predictions: Sikich guessed a coyote would be first, while Pratt picked a mule deer. On seeing the first photo, Pratt said, "Oh my God, it's already working."
Biologists installed additional cameras on the deck on November 3. Whether the coyote recorded in the early hours is the same animal seen on October 28 is not yet certain, and scientists have not confirmed that it completed a full traverse. Researchers plan to track how mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, mule deer and gray foxes approach and use the crossing with more than 50 still-photo cameras, thermal video cameras and GPS collars.
The crossing cost about $114 million and has been under construction since 2022; its main concrete structure is about 210 feet long and 174 feet wide, billed as the largest wildlife crossing of its kind in the world. Spanning both Highway 101 and Agoura Road, it is meant to reconnect the Santa Monica Mountains and Simi Hills habitats, divided by the freeway for decades, so mountain lions and other animals can move safely and improve genetic diversity eroded by inbreeding. "This is more than just about whether animals use the crossing," said Seth Riley, wildlife branch lead at the recreation area. "We want to understand how effective it is in reconnecting an ecosystem that has been divided by the freeway for decades. That is a much bigger scientific question and answering it will take years." A ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for December 2.
来源：美国国家公园管理局
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：Wallis Annenberg野生动物通道资料图（2025年4月摄，AragonChristopherR17Z摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经Wikimedia Commons），非涉事郊狼
GSM Global · 本篇英文版 English edition of this story
