Recent studies show that ecotourism, a type of tourism in which travelers visit natural environments with an eye toward funding conservation efforts or boosting local economies, is actually harmful to certain wild animals. Through interactions with humans, some animal species actually come to alter their behavior, and since protected areas around the globe receive a total of more than 8 billion visits each year, even brief contact with humans will build up over periods of time. According to Daniel Blumstein, chair of ecology and evolutionary biology at UCLA, “This massive amount of nature-based and ecotourism can be added to the long list of drivers of human-induced rapid environmental change".
Human interactions with wild animals can result in several behavioral shifts. One of the major changes is that animals are encouraged to let their guard down around and even become bolder towards humans. However, this behavior could then translate towards how the animal acts towards its predators, and in turn place that animal's population in danger. In contrast, human presence could also discourage predators, leading to bursts in the populations of smaller species. Both issues would result in damage to popular environments, successfully achieving the opposite of what those who partake on ecotourist trips hope to accomplish.
http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/49058
Human interactions with wild animals can result in several behavioral shifts. One of the major changes is that animals are encouraged to let their guard down around and even become bolder towards humans. However, this behavior could then translate towards how the animal acts towards its predators, and in turn place that animal's population in danger. In contrast, human presence could also discourage predators, leading to bursts in the populations of smaller species. Both issues would result in damage to popular environments, successfully achieving the opposite of what those who partake on ecotourist trips hope to accomplish.
http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/49058