{"id":906289,"date":"2026-11-05T02:54:13","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T02:54:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/906289\/"},"modified":"2026-11-05T02:54:13","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T02:54:13","slug":"this-iconic-l-a-mammal-is-the-first-to-venture-onto-the-wildlife-crossing-over-the-101-freeway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/906289\/","title":{"rendered":"This iconic L.A. mammal is the first to venture onto the wildlife crossing over the 101 Freeway"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On a brisk October morning, a coyote ventured onto a mound of dirt in Agoura Hills and inadvertently became a pioneer.<\/p>\n

The canid became the first large mammal known to ascend the gargantuan wildlife crossing<\/a> nearing completion over the bustling 101 Freeway.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh my God, it\u2019s already working,\u201d said Beth Pratt, president of the Wildlife Crossing Fund.<\/p>\n

The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing is intended to provide safe passage for wildlife locked in the Santa Monica Mountains by freeways and development. In particular, it could provide a lifeline for mountain lions suffering from the effects of inbreeding.<\/p>\n

\"An <\/p>\n

The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing is set to open on Dec. 2. <\/p>\n

(Kayla Bartkowski \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

After a news conference on Oct. 8, Pratt said she urged National Park Service wildlife biologist Jeff Sikich to install a camera trained on a path leading up to the south side of the crossing. She said she playfully pestered him with daily texts asking if it was up.<\/p>\n

On Oct. 14, Sikich put in a camera that monitors part of the slope near Agoura Road. <\/p>\n

Then, last Wednesday, the coyote made its move. A black-and-white image snapped just after 6 a.m. shows the animal heading up the hill. It nearly blends in. Only its eye shines bright white. The National Park Service publicly shared the news Wednesday. <\/p>\n

The coyote couldn\u2019t cross the entire length of the structure, which consists of two overpasses \u2014 one above the freeway and one above an adjacent road \u2014 connected by a graded slope. The soil wasn\u2019t built up high enough to connect them. (Pratt noted that smaller animals, like the Western fence lizard, have already been spotted on the crossing.) <\/p>\n

Since then, crews have been rapidly building up the soil to create a seamless connection across the structures. Now larger animals \u2014 including mountain lions, bobcats or coyotes \u2014 could potentially make a full crossing.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Sikich said he rushed out on Tuesday to install six cameras on the crossing itself.<\/p>\n

Remote monitoring was always part of the plan. Eventually more than 50 cameras taking still photos, along with four thermal video cameras, will capture the action, Sikich said.<\/p>\n

Images and video won\u2019t be posted live, but will be shared with the public.<\/p>\n

The roughly $114-million crossing is set to open Dec. 2<\/a>, barring any delays from fierce winter storms.<\/p>\n

National Park Service scientists began studying carnivores in and around the Santa Monica Mountains in 1996. That year the first radio collars were put on bobcats and coyotes in Liberty Canyon, where the crossing is located. Research extended to mountain lions in 2002.<\/p>\n

Scientists will be GPS radio tracking those species, along with deer and gray fox. That will allow them to see where the animals are moving.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re also in the process of implanting what are known as biologgers into deer and, soon, mountain lions. The devices will track physiological data including body temperature, heart rate and fat reserves. Among other things, researchers will be able to assess the animals\u2019 physiological stress \u2014 for instance, if their heart rate spikes while going over the freeway.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been spending decades, literally decades, documenting how wildlife has become isolated in the Santa Monica Mountains, and what makes us scientists excited is now we have this opportunity to study what happens when we reconnect it,\u201d Sikich said.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

One of three mountain lion cubs that a team with the National Park Service found in the Simi Hills.<\/p>\n

(Hannah Mellman \/ National Park Service)<\/p>\n

The stakes are existential for the mountain range\u2019s mountain lions, which are contending with critically low genetic diversity as close relatives mate. They\u2019ve already shown alarming signs of inbreeding, including kinked tails and deformed testicles.<\/p>\n

Scientists say the crossing will let the big cats seek mates in the Simi Hills and beyond \u2014 and allow fresh blood to travel into their neck of the woods. Sikich said even one mountain lion coming into the Santa Monicas and breeding could make a meaningful impact.<\/p>\n

Even before the coyote began exploring the structure, there were signs of life all around. In less than two months, a different camera stationed not far from the southern end of the crossing picked up a plethora of critters, including a mountain lion with two older kittens and another uncollared lion.<\/p>\n

Looking at those photos was a \u201cpoignant and emotional moment for me,\u201d Pratt said, imagining that soon the risk of them being smashed by cars would drop. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of wrongs in the world, but we righted this one. We actually fixed this one for the wildlife.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On a brisk October morning, a coyote ventured onto a mound of dirt in Agoura Hills and inadvertently…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":906290,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[14144,77884,15628,21087,8997,185280,130384,12560,2354,13490,61251,79,7993,379064,37425,201,77887],"class_list":["post-906289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-animal","tag-beth-pratt","tag-bobcat","tag-camera","tag-coyote","tag-crossing","tag-freeway","tag-heart-rate","tag-mountain-lion","tag-national-park-service","tag-santa-monica-mountains","tag-science","tag-scientist","tag-sikich","tag-structure","tag-wildlife","tag-wildlife-crossing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=906289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/906290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=906289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=906289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=906289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}