Posted on 08/17/2005 10:56:34 AM PDT by 11th_VA
Elephants, lions, cheetahs and camels could one day roam the western US under a proposal to recreate North American landscapes as they existed more than 13,000 years ago, when humans first encountered them.
The plan, proposed in a commentary in Nature and co-authored by 13 ecologists and conservation biologists, would help enrich a North American ecosystem that was left almost devoid of large mammals at the end of the Pleistocene period. It would also help preserve wildlife that faces the threat of extinction in Africa and Asia.
Between 50,000 and 10,000 years ago, 97 of 150 genera of large mammals disappeared from around the world. Although a warming climate played its part, the consensus is that over-hunting by humans probably had a significant role.
In North America, by about 13,000 years ago, humans were leaving evidence of big-game hunting using sophisticated stone tools. This hunting probably helped to drive many animals to extinction, including North American mammoths and mastodons, lions, cheetahs, camelops (a relative of the modern camel), horses and asses.
50-year plan
Although those animals are gone forever, related African and Asian species could serve as proxies, the authors say. They propose introducing the animals over 50 years, starting with horses, asses and camels, working up to elephants, and finally bringing in the big cats.
Eventually, the animals could roam in preserves hundreds of thousands of hectares in size. The best place to create this “Pleistocene Park” would be in the North American Great Plains, where the human population is relatively low and the grazing animals would have a ready supply of food.
But other conservationists think it is a bad idea. Chris Haney, a conservation biologist at Defenders of Wildlife in Washington, DC, US, says that substituting modern equivalents of extinct species will not be the same as restoring the ancient ecosystem. And he thinks it would detract from more pressing and “realistic” goals, such as restoring wolves, grizzlies, elk and other animals to their historic North American ranges. Even those reintroductions have faced bitter opposition from ranchers, farmers, and residents.
"I need to work on wolves, not mastodons," agrees Douglas Inkley, senior science adviser to the National Wildlife Federation in Reston, Virginia, US.
Journal reference: Nature (vol 436, p 913)
No. the largest NA mammals -- giant sloths and other megafauna -- were all hunted to extinction by that paragon of living with nature in harmony, the American Indian.
Although, if fire ants ever get this far north, I would entertain importing giant anteaters...
How about we move these nutters who dream up this nonsense to another part of the world? That would greatly improve our ecosystem.
Hunters with sophisticated stone tools, yeah right...
An ice age had absolutely nothing to do with it. I wonder where they are going to get dinosausers from?
There is a movement underway to really try and re-establish the Mammoth/Mastodon using frozen carcasess from Siberia and using cell nuclei to fertilize an elephant egg. That WOULD be AWESOME!.......
What you said, Pondman!
ROFL!
Just like when the got guns and helped to wipe out the buffalo herds.
The people who support this plan should be placed in the enclosures to make sure the animals don't go hungry. And they should have to pay every penny of the project's cost, too.
I guess it would give me more target practice!
Hmmmm, a hundred mile wide large predator park from San Diego to Corpus Christi...
{Seinfeld voice} Oh yeah, I like this idea.
And, their SUVs...
There are already enough buffalo around where I live. In fact there is a buffalo ranch just 2 miles from here. Plenty of deer, moose, and elk too. I'd say 80-90 lbs would do the trick. That takes down a moose.
yay! now i won't have to travel to africa!
that was the only place outside the US i ever wanted to go, and only for the hunting.
The problem with humans being an Apex Predator is that we could get fat, lazy, and even more stupid. Mixing in dangerous animals into our enviroment isn't as stupid an idea as it sounds at first. From a certain Nietzschian perspective...
what's the draw weight of a horsebow? i think that would be about what the native americans would have used on them. that or a hand thrown spear.
Why not take this a bit further... For example, why don't we recreate the Precambrian era, before the pristine geographical features were sullied by the existence of life of any sort... Oh - I see why this wouldn't 'fly' - these self-hating people certainly despise human civilization in all of its forms, but they're perfectly happy with (in fact, 'worship' would not be too strong a word to use) any other form of life...
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