Update – According to a report from National Geographic, it looks this isn’t accurate. It seems the videos of the dolphins swimming were taken in Sardinia, while the swans apparently have never really left the canals and do appear from time to time, not just in the wake of the coronavirus lockdown.
Italy is currently in lockdown where residents are told to stay at home. This is due to the coronavirus outbreak in which social distancing seems to be the only way to keep the outbreak under control without putting too much strain on an already-taxed healthcare system.
While the virus has been wreaking havoc on humanity, mother nature on the other hand appears to be flourishing. Due to Italy being on lockdown, it means that the canals of Venice, which would have otherwise been populated with locals and tourists on gondolas, are now empty. As a result, the waters are looking clearer (due to the sediment not being stirred up by gondolas), and swans and even dolphins are starting to appear in the city’s waters.
Venice hasn't seen clear canal water in a very long time. Dolphins showing up too. Nature just hit the reset button on us pic.twitter.com/RzqOq8ftCj
— Gianluca De Santis (@b8taFPS) March 17, 2020
These changes don’t really come as much of a surprise. This is because other parts of the world are also seeing improvements to the environment in general. Take for example over in China, where the virus is said to have originated from, due to the lockdown in Wuhan, satellite images showed how the air pollution levels have dropped drastically during this period of time.
https://twitter.com/fiIterjm/status/1238611456347832321
A similar effect is also taking place in Italy where footage from the European Space Agency shows a drop in nitrogen dioxide in the past two months.
Filed in . Read more about Health, Nature and Social Hit. Source: standard