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Lions, Elephants and other large animals to return to US lands?

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout' started by HOOP-T, Aug 17, 2005.

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  1. HOOP-T

    HOOP-T Member

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    This is cool, yet crazy!! I'd love taking an "African" Safari here in Texas. :)

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8983461/

    Elephants, lions to roam North America again?
    Plan to reintroduce large mammals, ecological history parks


    Updated: 2:00 p.m. ET Aug. 17, 2005
    Cheetahs, lions, camels and elephants would roam wild in the United States under a new proposal to re-introduce large animals similar to those that humans hunted to extinction long ago.

    The U.S. Ecological History Park, as it is billed by scientists, would help preserve species that are under increasing pressure for survival in Africa. It would also re-create a more balanced predator-prey relationship in the Great Plains and Southwest, an ecological diversity that has been absent for more than 10,000 years thanks at least in part to hunting pressure.

    The idea, similar to one already under way in Siberia, is laid out in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature by a dozen ecologists and conservationists at 10 universities and institutions.

    The park, where large and sometimes dangerous predators would roam free, could be an economic boon to depressed farming regions that humans are fleeing from anyway.

    The scientists would like to start now, using large tracts of private land, and expand the effort through the century.

    "If we only have 10 minutes to present this idea, people think we're nuts," admits Harry Greene, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Cornell University. "But if people hear the one-hour version, they realize they haven't thought about this as much as we have. Right now, we are investing all of our megafauna hopes on one continent — Africa."

    Better than rats
    One justification for "rewilding," as the scientists call it, is that one way or another, we humans have a dramatic effect on the animal kingdom and ecology in general, so a proactive approach is better than letting the world go to the dogs. Or, in this case, to the rats.

    In the absence of elephants and large predators, which together stomp the ground and keep other animals on the run, landscapes will come to be dominated by dandelions, rats and other undesirables, the scientists write.


    Large predators can be "keystone species" that are crucial to shaping the flora and fauna of an entire range.

    A modern example is the widespread disappearance of wolves and grizzly bears in parts of the West, again at the hands of humans. Elk populations soared. Elk eat willows, which beavers rely on, and so beaver populations in Colorado declined by up to 90 percent, the authors state. Fewer beavers meant fewer dams, and the reduced wetlands caused willow populations to decline 60 percent in some areas.

    The paper’s lead author is Cornell graduate student Josh Donlan.

    "Humans will continue to change ecosystems, cause extinctions, and affect the very future of evolution -- either by default or design," Donlan told LiveScience. "The default scenario will surely include ever more pests and weed-dominated landscapes and the extinction of most large vertebrates."

    Cheetahs, woolly mammoths and relatives of the camel were just a few of the large mammals that roamed America during the Pleistocene era, which ended 10,000 years ago as the last Ice Age retreated. Studies have shown that their demise was due largely to hunting by humans, not from climate change, as one theory held.

    Their absence has altered the biodiversity of the continent and potentially the evolution of other animals. Large prey such the antelopelike pronghorn of the Southwest evolved lightning speed over millions of years to escape cheetahs, for example.
     
    #1 HOOP-T, Aug 17, 2005
  2. MartianMan

    MartianMan Member

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    To "return"? Were they ever here to begin with?
     
    #2 MartianMan, Aug 17, 2005
  3. wnes

    wnes Contributing Member

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    Well, none of these are critically endangered. I am more worried about tigers. Quite a few sub-species of tigers are gone forever. One of existing types is on the verge of extinction. :(
     
    #3 wnes, Aug 17, 2005
    Last edited: Aug 17, 2005
  4. PhiSlammaJamma

    PhiSlammaJamma Member

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    That would be cool. But none of those elephants with sharks on their backs. we don't want those. I would be intertested to see an elephant encounter a NYC rat. That would be a cool video.

    Seriously. This would be pretty awesome. It seems perfectly plausible. If they can live in a zoo no reason we can't safari them in the midwest. Buy your land now people and make mega bucks. Land costs nothing out there right now.
     
    #4 PhiSlammaJamma, Aug 17, 2005
  5. KingCheetah

    KingCheetah Atomic Playboy
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    [​IMG]

    ! WORD !

    Say goodbye to deer overpopulation...


    :)
     
    #5 KingCheetah, Aug 17, 2005
  6. AntiSonic

    AntiSonic Member

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    WTF? Reparations for animals now?
     
    #6 AntiSonic, Aug 18, 2005
  7. Saint Louis

    Saint Louis Member

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    [​IMG]

    Look, Toto was right. It is beautiful in Kansas.
     
    #7 Saint Louis, Aug 18, 2005
  8. arno_ed

    arno_ed Member

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    No They weren't.
    I really do not see this use of this whole thing.
    If you want endangered species use the Tiger, or the snowleopard(howver it must be cold and there must be a lot of mountains, so maybe not the best option). Als how do they expect to get a good Predator prey relationship with Lions and Elephants???
    They should reintroduce animals that were extinct by the colonization of america, not who died during the ice age(because they do not longer excist). This is just a publicity story(atleast i hope).
    some scientist get payed for this nonsense??
     
    #8 arno_ed, Aug 18, 2005
  9. StupidMoniker

    StupidMoniker I lost a bet

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    I see this lasting until the first person gets killed by a re-introduced super predator.
     
    #9 StupidMoniker, Aug 18, 2005
  10. PhiSlammaJamma

    PhiSlammaJamma Member

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    wait until you're not looking and step into your first pile of elephant crap, son of a biotch! :D
     
    #10 PhiSlammaJamma, Aug 18, 2005
  11. Invisible Fan

    Invisible Fan Member

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    It's like those sci-fi scenarios of colonizing space. Endangered African animals would have different measures to survive should something happen in the only region they live.

    America has a lot of land. Their selection of depressed communities means that the soil is probably spent and unusable. The main concern is over who'd pay for such an endeavor.
     
    #11 Invisible Fan, Aug 18, 2005
  12. weakfromtoday

    weakfromtoday Member
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    Trampling and eating everything in their path!
     
    #12 weakfromtoday, Aug 18, 2005
  13. arno_ed

    arno_ed Member

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    Yeah i understand that. i even know of a research where they had 2 tigers trained to survive in Africa, just in case they do get extinct in their natural habitat. However the thing i do not understand is why do they use these animals, Use more endangered species. elephant are now a days a Plague for the ecosystems in africa.So it is not like they are almost extinct.
     
    #13 arno_ed, Aug 18, 2005
  14. Invisible Fan

    Invisible Fan Member

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    Because some people will go through great lengths and money to save cuddly and cute creatures...bald eagle... rather than saving a less attractive animal when the ecological impact can be a lot higher.

    I guess it's because they're large animals that they can't bust loose and cause havok. Plus, there's a lot of people who'd never dream of traveling to Africa but would pay good money to see these animals.
     
    #14 Invisible Fan, Aug 18, 2005
  15. arno_ed

    arno_ed Member

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    i think that lions and tigers can cause a lot of havok. And a lot of the really endangered species will cause a lot less havok when they break loose.

    I do agree with you that it is good money for them. And that is what the world is about.
     
    #15 arno_ed, Aug 18, 2005
  16. jo mama

    jo mama Member

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    i think its a very bad idea.

    trying to introduce foreign species into non-native habitats can have disasterous consequences for the current ecosystem.

    in other words, it aint natural!

    buffalo, wolves and bears would be one thing - they are native to the area. but i dont think we ever had elephants roaming around the great plains.

    and that is a misleading thread title. how does something return to somewhere its never been?
     
    #16 jo mama, Aug 18, 2005
  17. pirc1

    pirc1 Member

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    Oh, they were here a long time ago, and I mean long long time ago.
     
    #17 pirc1, Aug 18, 2005
  18. codell

    codell Member

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    This won't work.

    Didn't these guys see Jurassic Park?

    "Your scientists were so preoccupied with what they could do, that they didn't stop to think about whether they should do it.''
     
    #18 codell, Aug 18, 2005
  19. PhiSlammaJamma

    PhiSlammaJamma Member

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    Don't worry, they won't even realize they are killing cloned human beings. We thought of everything this time.
     
    #19 PhiSlammaJamma, Aug 18, 2005
  20. MadMax

    MadMax Member

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    what could possibly go wrong?
     
    #20 MadMax, Aug 18, 2005
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