But when the rains come back, as they have since the mid-1990s, waterfowl populations come roaring back, too. Nudds gives human intervention some credit for the turnaround, but his contrarian analysis suggests that any help from people was due less to waterfowl management and more to programs aimed at promoting sustainable farming, which helps preserve duck habitat. In other cases, the deadly effect of drought goes beyond breeding habitat and is often more direct. During a dry spell in England in 1995, for instance, hedgehogs began to die of thirst when the earthworms they eat shriveled up from lack of rain. The hedgehogs simply weren't getting enough water from their desiccated prey.
Droughts can also make it easier for diseases or predators to decimate wildlife populations.
By 1995, South Africa's Kruger park had suffered more than a decade of drought. The prolonged dry spell forced buffalo herds to clump together in their search for the few remaining spots of fresh grass and water. By contrast, in some cases dry times provide a fleeting bonanza for some species at the expense of others. Consider raccoons, foxes and turtles, for instance. The eggs failed to develop because soil temperatures were not warm enough, and the raccoons and foxes quickly gobbled them up.