https://phys.org/news/2018-10-animal-migration-requires-movement-corridors.html

The findings are detailed in a new paper—"Functional attributes of ungulate migration: landscape features facilitate movement and access to forage"—published in the scientific journal Ecological Applications. Led by Assistant Professor Kevin Monteith in UW's Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources, the research adds to a growing body of work by UW scientists regarding Wyoming's unparalleled big-game migrations.

"The strong link between fitness and nutritional condition in (big-game animals) underscores the importance of migratory tactics that enhance nutritional gain," says the paper, whose co-authors include fellow UW researchers Matt Kauffman and Matt Hayes. "Therefore, it is critical for migrating animals to not only have access to stopovers where snow recedes and green-up occurs predictably early, but to also have readily traversable pathways that connect them."