Nogales, Arizona – A puma takes a nighttime stroll along its natural habitat in the Arizona desert. Upon reaching the border wall dividing Mexico and the United States, it stops, hisses, waits a few seconds and walks away. A coyote and other wildlife can also be seen in the area, stopping before crossing the border.
These scenes were captured by cameras installed parallel to the border wall by biologist Ganesh Marín as part of a doctoral study at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
Marín, a Mexican biologist, placed nearly 100 wildlife camera traps in the area where New Mexico and Arizona meet, bordering the states of Sonora and Chihuahua in Mexico, and parallel to Federal Highway 2 in Mexico, which connects Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, with Tijuana, Baja California. He was tasked with assessing the large animal species, such as bears, jaguars, pumas and bobcats, that constantly move between the countries…