The reason for this is that pumas<\/a> change deer behaviour. \u201cPumas select for moderately developed areas relatively close to roads when hunting ungulate prey,\u201d says Suraci. \u201cThey are ambush predators and edges are great places to hunt because they provide both cover and good sight lines.\u201d<\/p>\n Deer and other herbivores therefore avoid these areas in response, especially at night when pumas are more active.<\/p>\n This has considerable benefits for the humans that drive along those roads \u2013\u00a0a collision with a large ungulate weighing up to 300kg can not only write off your vehicle, it can be fatal.<\/p>\n A\u00a0previous study<\/a>\u00a0published in 2016 found that reintroducing pumas to the eastern USA, where they are absent, could prevent 21,400 injuries, 155 fatalities and $2.13 billion in avoided costs over a 30-year period.<\/p>\n Suraci and his colleagues now plan to investigate whether it will be possible to assign a monetary value to the ecosystem services provided by the pumas in Washington State.<\/p>\n \u201cOur results indicate that communities are experiencing the value of coexisting with predators right now, but this has been unmeasured and poorly articulated to date,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Suraci and colleagues\u00a0studied\u00a0a large camera trap dataset to understand more about how\u00a0pumas change their prey\u2019s behaviour\u00a0\u2013 and\u00a0the\u00a0implications for human drivers across the Olympic Peninsula, Washington State. Credit: Panthera<\/p>\n Similar ecosystem services can be applied to other carnivores. A\u00a0study<\/a>\u00a0published in 2021 found that in the average county in Wisconsin, the presence of wolves reduced deer-vehicle collisions by 24 per cent, \u201cyielding an economic benefit that was 63 times greater than the costs of wolf predation on livestock.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Puma](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Puma-crossing-the-road-scaled.jpeg\")
Puma crossing the road. Credit: Nicol\u00e1s Lagos, Panthera<\/p>\n