/r/megafaunarewilding
This subreddit is a hub for any news, information, artwork, and discussion focused on rewilding, mainly restoring populations of megafauna species and the ecosystems they are a part of, as well as overall wildlife conservation. Welcome!
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/r/megafaunarewilding
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The roe deer, an animal that arrived in Norway in the early 1900s, and is now the most widespread species of deer found here thanks to humans
The roe deer might not look like much, however they are such an interesting species. Norway is home to 4 species of deer, being the reindeer, moose, red deer and roe deer (fallow deer too but they are introduced and are essentialy stuck in a tiny part of the country). However, unlike the other species, roe deer haven't been here for that long. Reindeer have been around for around 12 000 years, moose for 9000 and red deer for around 2500, meaning those species are already well established and used to the enviroment in the country.
Roe deer on the other hand are different. While roe deer have been in Denmark at around 9000 years ago. They almost went exctinct in Sweden around the early 1800s, however managed to bounce back. In 1865, the first roe deer was spotted in Norway, and in the early 1900s a small population had settled. Now over 100 years later, they are the most widespread species of deer in our country, with their numbers rivaling that of the moose, and it's all thanks to humans.
Roe deer are a species that struggle in deep snow, and Norway traditionaly had a lot of places with deep snow, and up north those places are still around. Unlike the 3 other species, roe deer have a hard time moving through the snow, and this means they have a hard time searching for food and are an easy prey for predators. However, roe deer have 1 advantage above the other deer, being that they can live around humans. Obviously there are some individuals of the other species that can be found near humans and houses, however the wast majority avoid places where humans live, and their range essentialy shrinks. The roe deer is the opposite, as they are almost exclusively found near humans. There are less predators to worry about and it's easier to find food, especially in winter. If you go up north, you aren't even going to find roe deer in the wilderness, as they are always living around humans where it's safe.
With the planet getting warmer and the winters being milder, it wouldn't suprise me if the roe deer are eventualy going to spread further and further away from humans, increasing their range. With their range increasing, there is no doubt that their numbers will also increase, and they will eventualy become the most abundant deer species in Norway, even though they are the newest. So this shows that while human activity is bad for many animals, there are some that benefit from us, and many animals like the roe deer, which would normaly struggle here otherwise, are thriving because of us. With the golden jackal also spreading closer and closer to Norway thanks to humans, it wouldn't suprise me if a wave of new animals are going to move here in the future, and those animals could be benefitial, or be a huge threath to the animals that are already living here
16:58 UTC
The story of the euthanized Przewalski's horse Wolfgang
I was reading a recent New York Times article about Przewalski's horses when I came across a comment.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/23/nyregion/rare-horses-przewalski.html#commentsContainer
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Oct. 24
"Depressing, the ignorance of most of the “horse people” (most of them professionals) mentioned here. Any kid interested in horses whose ever spent time with a book or online can identify a Przewalski, or should be able to.
While the effort to “bring back” Przewalskis is a success, some of the means are extremely questionable (unethical, in my opinion), like the mentioned-in-the-article distribution of animals of no use to the breeding program into private hands, where there wellbeing is by no means assured and frankly, rather doubtful, as these are not and will never be domesticated horses. They are just not wired to be trained and handled. (What utter ignorance and hubris to call them “disrespectful.”) My mom happens to live near a nature preserve in Germany where some of the young stallions from the breeding program get to live in a band for several years. This year, one of the stallions was euthanized because of infighting. I was shocked and disappointed; the situation could’ve been handled differently."
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This comment on the article reminds me of an incident I read this year.
Maybe it was the same incident.
I was shocked at the time, so it still lingers in my mind.
The Tenenlocher Forest in Germany is a semi-reserve for young Przewalski's stallions.
This was designated a nature reserve in 1994 after the US military withdrew its troops.
When the young stallions grow up, they are sent to zoos throughout Europe to become harem stallions.
This is part of the European Przewalski's horse conservation and breeding program.
In May of this year, a healthy, young 9-year-old stallion named “Wolfgang” from The Tennenloher Forest was suddenly euthanized.
He was very wild and energetic and often got into trouble with other stallions.
For years, he had caused damage, injuries, and annoyance to other stallions.
So officials decided to euthanize him.
The decision to euthanize Wolfgang was made after consulting with several relevant European organizations.
Was this a decision for animal welfare? Was it an unethical decision that should have been avoided?
To add my own thoughts, this kind of ‘wild’ fighting by Przewalski’s stallion is quite common and normal.
If he had been in the wild, Wolfgang would not have been euthanized.
In a sense, a nature reserve is not a home, it is a semi-wild place.
It probably does not require as much human control as a domestic home.
The decision to euthanize a healthy, young wild animal simply because it is wild and difficult to control seems like a human-centered choice.
Of course, breeding programs for endangered species often involve inevitable or unethical human choices.
This is not particularly surprising, considering that Przewalski's horse breeding programs have frequently involved the ruthless elimination of surplus individuals throughout their history.
But it is somewhat surprising that such choices are still made in the 21st century, let alone the 20th.
That is, horses that are currently living peacefully can be killed for just this reason.
After being euthanized, Wolfgang was fed to lions at a nearby zoo.
11:24 UTC
A frozen saber tooth tiger cub has reportedly been found in Siberia.
19:12 UTC
There was a time when maybe these 4 big cats crossed paths in the wild in India
So I know it sounds ridiculous that Lions, Tigers, Leopards, and Cheetahs crossing paths. that too in the wild??,but right now there's only one country that houses 3 of the primary big-cats, although not in the same region but Lions in Gir, Tigers everywhere except Gujarat and Punjab, and Leopards coexist with both in wide ranges. Still, we also know that Asiatic Cheetahs too occurred in India's wild before 1945. Both lions and cheetahs started disappearing (due to British+Mughal colonization) around early 1800's where the last lion sighting outside Gujarat was recorded in 1844 while the last recorded cheetah sighting was in 1947 and they were declared extinct in 1952.
Now I read an article from The Bombay Natural History Society, and it had some phenomenal and rare records, while recording the cheetah sightings few records mention tigers and cheetahs in the same region and few even record tigers killing cheetahs on rare occasions.
Unlike the current scenario, India had a healthy presence of open grasslands in the Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh areas where lions and cheetahs shared the regions which ultimately led to their easy hunting by the British, and the grasslands spread as far as Madhya Pradesh which also overlapped with tiger territories, so it is a high possibility that, even though extremely rare, confrontations did happen between these 4 species in the wild of India
16:04 UTC
Lions Of The Skeleton Coast | PBS Nature
A documentary following 3 Lioness Sisters who usher in the return of a new, adaptive generation of Desert Lions in Namibia
14:38 UTC
Pair of wolves hunting a small band of horses in Alberta
18:51 UTC
Is there any way to read The Bombay Natural History Society articles for free?
I read two articles of TBNHS and they were really detailed and phenomenal, they contained records that I had never come across before so I want to read more, if there's any way to read them for free please tell, and if anyone wants, I have the fascinating and rare article pdf of the last Asiatic Lions in the region of Haryana, India (The last hurrah of Hurriana)
16:26 UTC
Kazakhstan’s last tigers disappeared decades ago. Now, they’re coming back
21:24 UTC
Salmon return to Kalmath River basin four months after Dam removal
20:18 UTC
What Are Some Good Groups You Would Recommend To Support Rewilding Efforts?
For example, I recently signed up as a member of Mossy Earth after following their channel for a while & seeing the variety of different ongoing projects. What are some other organizations that could use more support for their efforts?
14:32 UTC
Killing of jaguar pushes species’ survival in Argentina’s Gran Chaco to the brink.
The recent killing of a jaguar by hunters increases the species’ risk of extinction in Argentina’s Gran Chaco landscape, where no more than 10 of the big cats are thought remain.
Link to the full article:- https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/killing-of-jaguar-pushes-species-survival-in-argentinas-gran-chaco-to-the-brink/
12:51 UTC
Could the Late Pleistocene extinctions have been prevented?
While it's generally agreed that most historical anthropogenic extinctions were entirely avoidable, what about those that occurred during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene? Were there any alternatives to our hunter-gatherer lifestyle? Or was there at least any feasible way to regulate hunting?
Spare me the talk about how climate change also contributed to the extinctions. That's only partially true, and not really my point anyway.
23:16 UTC
Asiatic Lion relocation
Has there been any update regarding the reintroduction of the asiatic Lion to somewhere outside of Gir? I remember years ago reading that the wanted to move it to Kuno but the Gujarat government stalled it to hell because they wanted all the tourism to themselves and made up some bullshit excuse like “ tigers in the area could harm them.” Has there been any progress/ updates?
04:46 UTC
North Chinese leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis)
From what I read here and there, it's no longer considered to be a separate subspecies, but rather as a slightly different population of the Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis). In fact, while it still has a french wikipedia article, the link to the english one sends back to the Amur leopard one.
If that's the case, doesn't that mean that the Amur leopard is now a bit less rare ? Since it pretty much has a "new" population ?
Can't also individuals from both populations moved to avoid bottle-necks ?
I'm curious to know a bit more about this very rare north chinese leopard.
20:22 UTC
Rewilding Honeycomb Campgrounds in Utah
I really wanted to be the first one to have a rewilding in North America. So in Honeycomb Campgrounds in Utah I want to introduce jaguars, grizzly bears, muskoxen, reindeer, dromedary camels, gray wolves, American bison, mountain goats, Nevada wild horses & guanacos as long as we have more populations of mule deer, elk, bighorn sheep & moose and the other herbivores have enough plants and vegetation to feed on.
23:27 UTC
Lesser known countries: Dominican Republic
Larger, mainland fauna tends to outshine the lesser island-country fauna. My home country, the Dominican Republic, has had its own share of megafauna, as well as still existing fauna of course, this post's purpose is to bring some spotlight to this topic
Image 1- Hispaniolan Solenodon (Endangered): Solenodon paradoxus, this is a small shrew like mammal, it is one of the few existing mammals to have a venomous bite. They are Insectivores. They are endemic to the island of Hispaniolan and tend to be called a "living fossil". It is one of only two remaining native terrestrial mammals on the island.
Image 2- Hispaniolan Hutia (Endangered): Plagiodontia aedium, this is the other last remaining native terrestrial mammal, living a mostly arboreal life, the Hispaniolan Hutia moves from tree-to-tree walking among the branches and feeding off fruits and insects.
Having focused the first few on smaller still existing, yet endangered fauna, I'll now focus on our extinct Megafauna, sadly, for most of them, the information available isn't really much.
Image 3- Hispaniolan Ground Sloth (Extinct): Acratocnus, this was a complete genus of ground sloths native to the Caribbean islands including what is now the Dominican Republic during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene.
Image 4- Hispaniolan Monkey (Extinct): Antillothrix bernensis, not exactly sure if this is "megafauna" but it is an animal that lived in the same time period and also went extinct along with them. Very little is known of this species of monkey, they most likely ate fruits and insects, they are known only from their fossilized remains in some national parks. The indigenous Taino included their depictions in pictographs in caves.
Image 5- Hispaniolan Tortoise (Northern: C. dominicensis , Southern*:* C. marcanoi) were a subgroup of tortoise endemic of the island of Hispaniola. Only known from fossilized remains. Dry forests in the south of the island were the final refuge for Hispaniola’s giant tortoises, as climate changes at the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary, around 11,000 years ago, replaced their former semi-arid habitats with tropical forests unsuitable for tortoises, driving them to extinction
20:26 UTC
Cave Hyenas
Cave Hyenas seem to me like the perfect combination of things that would have terrified our ancestors. Their rows of glistening dagger-like teeth, their cunning and ability to work as a group, their ability to see at night, and their unnervingly familiar chuckle. This is my first dive into the horror of the Pleistocene. I hope you enjoy (:
16:23 UTC
India:Manas national park in Assam triples tiger population
14:15 UTC
Could & should we clone steppe bison? or should we just introduce american bison as proxy for steppe bison?
12:22 UTC