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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.
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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).
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
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.
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!