Posted on 05/07/2018 8:14:04 PM PDT by BenLurkin
In recent years, sightings of large predators in places where conventional wisdom says they "shouldn't be" have increased, in large part because local populations, once hunted to near-extinction, are rebounding—thanks to conservation.
Many observers have hypothesized that as these populations recover the predators are expanding their ranges and colonizing new habitats in search of food.
A Duke University-led paper published today in the journal Current Biology suggests otherwise.
It finds that, rather than venturing into new and alien habitats for the first time, alligators, sea otters and many other large predators—marine and terrestrial species alike—are re-colonizing ecosystems that used to be prime hunting grounds for them before humans decimated their populations and well before scientists started studying them.
"We can no longer chock up a large alligator on a beach or coral reef as an aberrant sighting," said Brian Silliman, Rachel Carson Associate Professor of Marine Conservation Biology at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment. "It's not an outlier or short-term blip. It's the old norm, the way it used to be before we pushed these species onto their last legs in hard-to-reach refuges. Now, they are returning."
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
“Golden bears” like the one you see on the state flag were once common in SoCal. These were grizzlies.
The last one in the state may have been the grizzly killed near Trabuco Canyon in 1908.
Mountain lions have been a protected species since 1990 and the cats have celebrated that fact by killing off a few mountain bikers in south OC.
And in the last 2-3 years we have seen the resurgence of Great White sharks along our coast after at least a 50 year absence. Only two near-fatal attacks so far, so the sharks are pikers compared to the big cats.
I figure that very soon the push to reintroduce the golden bears will start, and then commuters along the 91 will have a whole new exciting dimension added to any potential breakdown in the canyon. Don’t forget your bear spray.
I’ve been thinking of that as well.
Can a tiger eat a mime, if the mime is safe inside his box?
Can a mime ever think outside of the box?
The tiger paused, considered his diet, then concluded a mime is a terrible thing to waist.
So down South, I have to worry about alligators in the surf, not just sharks?
Jersey beaches are looking good - and I spent weeks every summer at Sullivan’s Island as a child. Back when Isle of Palms was still half covered with scrub. No gators though.
Honestly, I like a good clear aqua blue swimming pool, where I can see the bottom.
We’ve got lots of foxes here in exurbia; I saw a mink once; there was a hunt for coyotes in the next town because they were taking pets; there are bears up on the ridge and they go strolling through back yards every now and then, and some people swore they saw a mountain lion about 8 years back.
I would advise developing fast running skills.
The coyotes are already in the suburbs.
Schrödinger's Mime -- an age-old question.
Biological warfare.
Has no one yet propounded a theory on why this is occurring because of global warming caused by Bush and now Trump.
The ONE tried to lead us to rolling back the rising tides, but we failed to see the light of his wisdom.
God, I hope the Southern Herd of Buffalo doesn’t regenerate. I don’t know if I can handle millions of bison trampling over my crab grass.
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