U.S scientists call for bringing lions, cheetahs, camels, etc. back to the U.S

Using the end of the Pleistocene period some 13,000 years ago -- when the prehistoric cousins of these and other "megafauna" roamed North America by the millions -- as a benchmark, the scientists call for the "re-wilding" of great swathes of sparsely populated land.

"It would take many, many hundreds of square miles (kilometers)," said Harry Greene, one of the authors and a professor at Cornell University in New York. "We are talking about an American Serengeti," he added, referring to the 15,000 square kilometer (5,800 square mile) wildlife preserve in northern Tanzania.

There are at least three compelling reasons -- one biological, one ethical and one economic -- to take such a bold step, the authors argue.

Repopulating the American Great Plains with the descendents of species that disappeared from that habitat more than 10,000 years ago is "an alternative conservation strategy for the 21st century," says Josh Donlan, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Cornell, and lead author of the editorial.

"We want to reinvigorate wild places as widely and rapidly as is prudently possible," he writes.

Without dramatic, "pro-active" steps, he suggests, many big carnivores and herbivores will disappear from the wild by century's end. "Africa's large mammals are dying, stranded on a continent where wars are waged over scarce resources."

Anticipating objections about manipulating nature, Greene points out that moving Asian and African megafauna to North America is simply restoring a natural equilibrium and biodiversity.

"When you compare the total fauna and flora of 10,000 years ago with today, there has been virtually no plant loss and maybe one small mammal -- most of the loss has been big animals" decimated by the presence of man, he told AFP.

Article link


Cool idea, I'm all for it.



[edit on 17-8-2005 by NWguy83]

Ranchers will not go for the act of putting lions and cheetahs in the USA to run wild.

When the first child is killed by a large cat the soccer moms will be very scared.

Roper

I'd actually love to see this happen. I first saw this on CNN a couple of hours ago. It would make driving through kansas a lot more fun.

Yes, do it.

And think about starting the project by putting the lions and cheetahs in the border areas, too.



[edit on 8/18/2005 by centurion1211]

If you want to stop the border problem lions are the way to go. I used to live in South Africa and a few years ago some people tried to enter the country by jumping the Kruger National Parks fence. I am not sure how many there were but lets say 7. After a while they noticed they were being followed by some lions, they got scared and decided to climb a tree. The next morning a ranger was driving buy and saw a real mess, only 1 guy was left at the top and the lions were just about to go and get him.

Leopards are the sneaky ones, you hardly ever see them but when you do (if your on foot) it's normally not a good thing. They attack pets more readily so the moms should worry about bingo more than billy. In St. Lucia we have some escaped leopards that live freely, when they had babies a lot of dogs were found dead, sometimes decapitated. You don't have to worry about Cheetahs at all, they will avoid you and if they attack you it's because you cornered it or something.

I am sure they would form a park like Kruger so we can go bundu bashing in the safety of our SUV's. I think it is a good idea as the animals will be much safer here.

Wow, cool find!

I think releasing cheetahs in North America to try to save them is a great idea, they are actually quite tame and generally not dangerous to humans. However lions and elephants might cause more problems....

So not only does the US want all the oil in the world, all the resources, all the money, all the power, now it wants all the animals as well?

Aye, that will be well cool. I live in the uk, and we dont have any cool animals really, so introducing those animals back will be cool for you guys Hope they achieve something.

I reckon Tanzania has a few lions they might want to get rid of

www.news.com.au...

Lions 'increasingly eating humans'
From: Agence France-Presse
From correspondents in Paris

August 18, 2005


NEARLY 1000 a people have been killed or maimed by lions in Tanzania in the past 15 years, a study says.
The encroachment of humans in the predators' environment has resulted in the dramatic increase, the study published in the latest edition of Nature magazine said.

In total, 563 Tanzanians have died and 308 have been injured in lion attacks since 1990.

Forty per cent of the attacks occurred during the harvest season, when farmers slept in the field in make-shift huts to ward off wild pigs, the joint study by the University of Minnesota and Tanzania's Wildlife Research Institute found.

According to the team of researchers, led by Dr Craig Packer of the University of Minnesota's Lion Research Centre, lions which traditionally prey on the wild pigs have found their food source dwindling because of spreading human activity.

As a result, they have taken to dragging people from their beds, attacking mothers with babies or children playing outside, and pouncing on people going to their outdoor toilets.

One victim in five is a child younger than 10, the authors said.

In large part, the rise in attacks can be linked to Tanzania's growing number of humans, which has jumped from 23 million in 1988 to 35 million today.

This has reduced the hunting grounds of the lions, of which Tanzania has the biggest population in all of Africa.

The issue has created a problem for biologists and ecologists, whose aim of preserving Africa's lions is dogged by fears the felines engender in local communities.

My concern would be the climate...we do have large populations of antelope here that cheetahs could prey on, but they're in the north of the country like Yellowstone, etc. I don't know if cheetahs could handle the cold winters...

Originally posted by nikelbee
So not only does the US want all the oil in the world, all the resources, all the money, all the power, now it wants all the animals as well?

Yep.

Originally posted by Roper
Ranchers will not go for the act of putting lions and cheetahs in the USA to run wild.

When the first child is killed by a large cat the soccer moms will be very scared.

Roper

They said the same thing about re-introducing wolves into Yellowstone... No human deaths has yet come from that, and it's been a few years. And I haven't heard about missing sheep, so that must be a rare thing.

Back to the story, I also heard the plan may include elephants.

[edit on 18-8-2005 by NWguy83]

Here, read this BBC article.

Article link

Originally posted by Roper
When the first child is killed by a large cat the soccer moms will be very scared.

It'll be on a preserve, not in the range country or where kids can run around.


I think its stupid to call it an ethical issue tho, to say that its ethical to put these animals in north america. They were never there, a different set of species were in N. America, similar to what is being moved. Either way it isn't 'ethical'.

Dj
I think releasing cheetahs in North America to try to save them is a great idea, they are actually quite tame and generally not dangerous to humans. However lions and elephants might cause more problems

Cheetahs, like all wild animals, are wildly viscious. Also, nothin it likely to help the cheetahs, they've entered into a 'genetic bottleneck', their populations are far to small, probably, to have enough genetic diversity to maintain a healthy species (they're inbred).

I also heard the plan may include elephants

Seems pointless, there were no elephants in N. America, there were mammoths, but not african and asian elephants.



I agree this whole thing'd be 'cool', but its silly.

As Nygdan said, the object isn't to let them run around -- that would quickly bring an end to them -- but to put them in parks. We have small parks around the US that do this; I'm not sure why the originator of the idea seems to avoid this issue.

I think it's a good idea, and perhaps the only way to save these animals until their home countries become stable enough that such parks are possible for them.

I've speculated on what changes might have to happen for large wild animals -- I think that semi-domestication really is in their future. They won't make good pets (not for a very very long generational time) but they might be manageable creatures. And that may be the key to their survival.

i would support some animals as i mean some animals to North America. remember that the Europeans have brought animals, (besides diseases and slaves) like for example horses to North America.

One of the sets that they talk about are wild horses, wild asses, and wild primitive horses (from the steppes).

I can see that working out in North America.

Heck if it works out there maybe someone can reverse breed an Auroch and let them roam free in europe!

Nygdan,

Tame may have been the improper word to describe cheetahs, they certainly are wild animals, but they are quite shy and really not a danger to humans like lions would be.

Originally posted by djohnsto77
My concern would be the climate...we do have large populations of antelope here that cheetahs could prey on, but they're in the north of the country like Yellowstone, etc. I don't know if cheetahs could handle the cold winters...

Yellowstone is already occupied by a predetor, namely BC Wolves. Here's the link.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Unfortunately it only got 2 replies

Something tells me it is not nice to fool with mother nature. Although it sounds rather interesting to have those animals here I suspect there may be a cost that we may not even know yet.