A sad view of the U.S.
I was looking at the map of observations of the Virginia Opossum and noticed a large gap centered around Mississippi. At first I thought why there were no opossum's in Mississippi. Then I started looking at the maps of observations of other common mammals...and then birds...and then insects...and they all had that same gap. And I noticed that the gap was a swath from Mississippi to Georgia (excluding the coastal areas). Here's some links to see this gap in observations:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?locale=en&place_id=any&taxon_id=3
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?locale=en&place_id=any&taxon_id=40151
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?locale=en&place_id=any&taxon_id=47158
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?locale=en&place_id=any&taxon_id=47126
I'm sure the explanation is socioeconomic, as this area is well-populated. There's a book there waiting to be written--or perhaps it's already been written.
