LA's skies are smog-free and peacocks are roaming the streets of Dubai. Photos show how nature has returned to cities shut down by the coronavirus pandemic.
Herds of mountain goats that normally live outside Llandudno, Wales, have taken over while the town's human residents are staying indoors.
Peter Byrne/PA Images via Getty Images
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Aside from slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus, social distancing has had the unintended side effect of reducing pollution and replenishing wildlife across the globe.
Social distancing might not just slow the spread of the novel coronavirus — it might also give the environment a break from the pollution of modern life.
Cities across the globe have reported reductions in air pollution as daily life has come to a grinding halt because of the pandemic. Governments around the world have asked people to practice social distancing (or mandated nationwide lockdown measures) to slow its spread.
Keep reading to see how urban environments have changed amid the coronavirus crisis.
Skies are free of smog in some parts of China ...
NASA recorded a sustained drop in the levels of noxious nitrogen dioxide after the Lunar New Year.
NASA
You can see straight to the bottom, and fish have returned to some parts.
A view shows clearer waters by a gondola in a Venice canal on March 17, 2020 as a result of the stoppage of motorboat traffic, following the country's lockdown within the new coronavirus crisis.
ANDREA PATTARO/AFP via Getty Images
Goats roamed the streets, sunbathed on the grounds of a church, nibbled hedges, and trespassed through a few gardens in one Welsh town as human pedestrians stayed home to practice social distancing.
Mountain goats roam the streets of Llandudno, Wales, on March 31, 2020.
Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
And Barcelona residents say they have seen wild boars wander their streets.
A deserted Passeig de Colom is pictured during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Barcelona, Spain, March 31, 2020.
REUTERS/Nacho Doce/File Photo
