Whut ?
This is Pleistocene rewilding. Advocates want to set the clock back not hundreds, but thousands of years. Around 13,000 years in fact, to when the Pleistocene era was drawing to a close: an almost incomprehensible length of time for us mortals, but the mere blink of an eye for Earth's ecosystems.
During the Pleistocene every continent was populated with enormous mammals, from the giant wombats of Australia to the various species of elephant that roamed North America and Europe. The animals themselves are now gone. But the ecosystems that evolved with them remain, and their function is severely reduced in the absence of such keystone species.
But help could be at hand. Pleistocene rewilders suggest that some animals still found in Africa and Asia, many of which are on the verge of extinction themselves, are similar enough to their extinct counterparts to serve as effective proxies.
Bach and his colleagues want to stake their claim for the wildest rewilding experiment yet. Under their watch, they hope to see elephants roam the Danish landscape for the first time in millennia. The zoo has form when it comes to rewilding. Having successfully overseen the reintroduction of European bison in Randers, Bach and his colleagues see elephants as the natural progression.
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160527-the-zoo-that-wants-to-release-wild-elephants-in-denmark
Are they planning on giving them winter coats?
ReplyDeleteHa, well I don't think they'll get very far with this idea in the UK, the fuss people made about the experimental beaver reintroduction.
ReplyDeleteHello I am so delighted I located your blog, I really located you by mistake, while I was watching on google for something else, Anyways I am here now and could just like to say thank for a tremendous post and a all round entertaining website. Please do keep up the great work. this link
ReplyDelete