In early 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic quietened daily life around the world, scientists noticed something unusual. As human mobility dropped sharply, the slowdown created what some researchers recognised as a rare natural experiment: the chance to observe how ecosystems respond when human pressure suddenly recedes.
The term ‘anthropause’ was introduced that year by behavioural ecologist Christian Rutz and colleagues to describe the sudden global slowdown.
“The word literally means ‘human pause’,” Rutz explains. “It describes the unusual period of planetary calm caused by the early Covid-19 lockdowns.”
A few years later, Rutz offered a more formal definition of the term, describing an anthropause as “an unusual, substantial, temporary, continental-to-global-scale reduction in human mobility.”
The concept helped researchers frame what was unfolding as something unprecedented: a worldwide shift in human movement patterns that allowed scientists to observe how wildlife responds when everyday disturbances suddenly fall away.
GPS tracking data helped them to compare animal movements before, during and after lockdowns. In cities such as San Francisco and Barcelona, for example, mountain lions and wild boar were recorded moving through areas usually dominated by people.
In Yellowstone National Park, shifts in visitor numbers altered the movement patterns of elk and pronghorn. Meanwhile, in coastal waters, reductions in vessel traffic changed underwater soundscapes, affecting species sensitive to persistent industrial noise.
However, the changes were not uniform.
“Humans influence animal movement in massive ways all around the globe, but the effects differ depending on the setting,” explains movement ecologist Martin Wikelski.
“During the anthropause, animals were pushed back in some areas as people visited natural spaces more frequently, while in others, wildlife recolonised habitats that had previously been dominated by humans.”
Human presence shapes wildlife behaviour in many ways. Roads, buildings and noise influence where animals feel safe enough to live. When those pressures briefly eased during lockdowns, some species expanded their ranges or became more active during daylight hours.
But other species that had relied on humans for food sources struggled. Urban gulls that depend on food waste lost predictable resources when restaurants closed, while monkeys in tourist regions experienced sudden food shortages. Once human activity resumed, many species quickly returned to their previous patterns.
The anthropause revealed something more complicated than a simple ‘return of nature’. As Rutz notes, the findings showed that human–wildlife relationships vary widely, and that, for some species, humans also provide valuable resources.
The period demonstrated that even small changes can reshape the behaviour of animals.
