Wildfire smoke affects animals in unique ways. Scientists are trying to understand it

RIGHT SO CONTEXT FIRST BECAUSE IT MATTERS WILD PLACES ARE GETTING ABSOLUTELY SMOKED BY THESE WILDFIRES AND SCIENTISTS HAVE LITERALLY INVENTED A NEW FIELD CALLED SMOKE ECOLOGY WHICH IS WILD BECAUSE NO ONE WAS LOOKING AT THIS BEFORE. APPARENTLY THEY ARE TRACKING HOW THE SMOKE PERTURBS ANIMALS AND THE WILDERNESS ITSELF AND HONESTLY I AM SO WORRIED ABOUT THE BEARS AND THE DEER BECAUSE THEY DO NOT HAVE MASKS OR HEPA FILTERS OR ANYTHING. THE RESEARCHERS ARE TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO PREVENT THE WORST MAYHEM BUT THEY ARE JUST STARTING TO UNDERSTAND THE SCALE OF THE PROBLEM AND IT IS HONESTLY A BIT TERRIFYING TO THINK ABOUT WHAT IS HAPPENING OUT IN THE FORESTS WHILE WE ARE ALL JUST STANDING HERE DRINKING. ANYWAY, WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE.

GENUINELY WHAT IS HAPPENING TODAY BECAUSE NPR SAYS WE HAVE A NEW FIELD CALLED SMOKE ECOLOGY NOW WHICH IS APPARENTLY A REAL THING. IT IS ALL ABOUT HOW WILDFIRE SMOKE MESSES WITH WILD ANIMALS AND THESE SCIENTISTS ARE SCRAMBLING TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO STOP THE MAYHEM IN THESE SMOKY FORESTS. IT IS SO DISTURBING TO THINK ABOUT NATURE JUST GETTING CHOKED OUT WHILE WE GO ABOUT OUR LIVES AND THE SCIENTISTS ARE ADMITTING THEY ARE ONLY JUST LEARNING HOW THIS PERTURBS EVERYTHING IN THE WILD PLACES. I AM SITTING HERE WITH A MASSIVE HEADACHE THINKING ABOUT COYOTES COUGHING IN THE SMOKE AND IT JUST FEELS WRONG THAT WE ARE ONLY NOW STARTING TO STUDY THIS. ANYWAY THE QUEUE FOR THE BAR IS SHORTER NOW.

Scientists have established a new field called smoke ecology to study how wildfire smoke affects wild animals and ecosystems and to identify ways to mitigate potential harm.

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