Should the U.S. Host Megafauna?
Posted on August 24, 2005
During the Pleistocene era North America was full of megafauna, or large-bodied mammals like Camelops, sabertooth tigers and American cheetahs. The BBC reports that Nature story is reporting on new plan, called Pleistocene re-wilding, that hopes to repopulate some of North America with large mammals like feral horses, camels, elephants and lions.
Other living species that could "stand in" for Pleistocene-era animals in North America include feral horses (Equus caballus), wild asses (E. asinus), Bactrian camels (Camelus bactrianus), Asian (Elephas maximus) and African (Loxodonta africana) elephants and lions (Panthera leo).Not everyone is going to welcome the animals. For example, ranchers with livestock might fear what the hunting lions and territorial elephants will do their livestock and fences. However, these creatures continue to get poached and killed for food in Africa so it may take a big sacrifice here in the U.S. to keep these unique animals with us."Obviously, gaining public acceptance is going to be a huge issue, especially when you talk about reintroducing predators," said lead author Josh Donlan, of Cornell University. "There are going to have to be some major attitude shifts. That includes realising predation is a natural role, and that people are going to have to take precautions."
However Americans might do more than put up with their new compatriots - they might actually welcome them.
According to Dr Donlan and his colleagues, the re-wilding plan would offer ecotourism and land-management jobs to help the struggling economies of the Great Plains and Southwest.