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Reintroduce Megafauna to North America?
sneakers563 writes "A team of scientists is proposing reintroducing large mammals such as elephants, lions, cheetahs and wild horses to North America to replace populations lost 13,000 years ago. The scientists say that parks could be set up as breeding sanctuaries for species of large wild animals under threat in Africa and Asia, and that such ecological history parks could be major tourist attractions. 'Africa and parts of Asia are now the only places where megafauna are relatively intact, and the loss of many of these species within this century seems likely,' the team said."
The Wilds in Cumberland, OH has 10,000 acres with African, Asian, and North American animals.
[Insert pithy quote here]
I'd Google for more references, but I have a plane to catch...
Elephants may be able to handle it through sheer size, but lions have no adaptations for cold. Nor do cheetahs.
Zoos and free-animal parks provide shelter that wild animals wouldn't have.
"Even for Slashdot, that was a very obscure reference!" - Anonymous Coward
Ok, there are studies that show the impact of introduced wolf packs are having a positive impact on some areas in Canada.
..... (you get the picture)
On the other hand, it seems like every time we introduce a non-native bit of flora and fauna to the North American landscape we end up with those jumping fish in the Mississippi river or kudzu all over everything in the South or
Outside of a very restricted park environment I can see a serious potential for tragedy here.
ACK
North America is no stranger to large, free roaming, wild cats. Most of the time, we get along just fine (read: leave each other alone).
In Scotland, there's a scheme in the offing to reintroduce bison, wild board and wolves to a reserve. ISTR bears may have been mentioned as well. The reserve will be protected by a 50 foot fence, but ramblers will be allowed free access! I hope they put CCTV cameras up so we can watch ramblers vs wolves in realtime :).
Oh no... it's the future.
Bison are thriving on farms across the US, particularly in Montana. There is even a restaurant called "Ted's Montana Grill" (as in Ted Turner) which specializes in Bison burgers, steaks and more.
since we are being pedantic about, and my people (Lakota) were here before the people who named them bison, it is actually Tatanka.
always mosh clockwise
Buffalo are "Bubalus arnee", Bison are "Bison bison". They're both bovines, but that's where their similarity ends. It'd be like calling a cow a buffalo.
Buffalo: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/3 3/Indonesia-Bull.jpg/180px-Indonesia-Bull.jpg
Bison: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8 d/American_bison.jpg/200px-American_bison.jpg
As you can see, they don't look anything alike.
The same is true in the U.S. When we complain about encroaching civilization, we are complaining about areas around major metropolitans areas. Rural america is being depopulated. Forests are growing back, and are much larger than they were 100 years ago. Etc. Etc.
European explorers gave the American bison the name of buffalo. They thought they looked like cattle. The French called them les boeufs. English explorers mispronounced that as "labuff" or "buffle." Eventually, everyone's just calling them Buffalo.
Where I live (South Dakota) there are at least 4 major herds in the relatively near vicinity. (2 public herds, two private) Everybody and their dog knows the "official" name is bison, but everyone calls them buffalo.
Where I'm from, several people have lost pets to those things. While it's true that pumas (we call them mountian lions here) are generally afraid of humans, the ones that live close to populated areas tend to get too used to humans and lose there natural fear of humans. This is when they can become dangerous. Several people in Colorado have been attacked by them over the years.
...interesting if true.
Mountain lions have moved into San Jose. You know, that wilderness just outside Milpitas and Mountain View. Coyotes have been seen in San Francisco. Nature has this habit of adapting.
And there are very, very few relatives of mountain lions in Florida. They're called panthers, and they're just about extinct. Count yourself very luck to see one, ever. However, there are alligators all over. Check out the University of Florida's campus sometime. Over 40k resident students and you'll still see alligators in the ponds. Even with the rampant drunkenness, people manage not to be killed.
These animals rarely cause problems. They're afraid of people. We're fairly large, loud, and travel in packs. You only need to worry when you're alone, physically hurt, or obviously frightened (before you see the animal).
Wild pigs, on the other hand, are aggressive. They're non-native, invasive, and damned yummy. Whee!
North America is no stranger to large, free roaming, wild cats. Most of the time, we get along just fine (read: leave each other alone).
This is true. I hike in Mountain Lion territory all the time. The vast majority of the time, people and lions keep to themselves. On the extremely rare occation where they don't however, something very bad happens either to the person or the cat.
Folks have been mauled/killed not terribly far from me, and every now and then the villagers gather torches and pitchforks to go kill a/some/all lions.
And I don't believe the United States ever had wild horses: I think they were all brought here.
Belief is nice, but often facts smack it upside the ass. North America had mammoths, mastodons, sabre-toothed tigers, camels, and -- yes -- horses. In fact, horses evolved in North America and only later spread to Eurasia. The locals went extict 11,000 years ago.
As far as we know, native North American horses were never domesticated. The domesticable wild mustangs were just feral horses brought over by the conquistadors.
Is this a sigs-optional kind of place? 'Cause I am totally down with that if you know what I mean.
Ummm... because we're British?
You guys are the newbies on the block! "Tatanka" is a MODERN name. It's also only one modern word out of several modern Amerindian languages. These animals were known by more than just the Lakota! The Bison also roamed the San Joaquin Valley of California, but the Yokut word for them was NOT "Tatanka"!
We should instead call this species by their proper name, which is whatever the first human to North America 20,000+ years ago called them.
Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
Brings back memories, only mine was with a mountain lion, not a cougar.
Cougars and mountain lions are regional names for the same animal, Felix concolor. Also, "panther".
xkcd.com - a webcomic of mathematics, love, and language.
I had to laugh when I read this. I went to Cornell. This is right up there with Carl Sagan's various capers, and it's a great example of the charming utopian out to lunchness that seems to define Cornell. Hey, I'm one of 'em and I'd love to see this happen on a large scale but I've lived in the real world too long to believe it could happen. Gotta get back to Ithaca one of these days, I guess...
The 35mm was shooting slide film. I'll post a link when I get back home in a couple days. Should be able to find a way to scan it.
+++ UGUCAUCGUAUUUCU
Don't forget "puma"
Moo.