Brad Shaffer, an evolutionary biologist at UCLA, has high hopes the wildlife crossing will reshape not just the landscape for its top predator but the character of Southern California.

“From a biological perspective,” Shaffer said, “large top carnivores like mountain lions have beneficial cascading consequences on everything in the food chain — from mule deer to ground squirrels, lizards and insects.

“Beyond that, building a wildlife crossing to carry them over one of the busiest freeways in the nation sends a powerful message out to the world that Angelenos care about nature’s role in all of urban life,” he said.

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