For the first time in a millennium, a top predator returns

[n2doc]

LIONS ONCE HUNTED mammoths in Canada. Dire wolves stalked mastodon in Germany. And as recently as 1,300 years ago, a coyote-sized cat called the Eurasian lynx brought down deer in Great Britain. But the lynx, and all those other big predators, got out-hunted—and in some cases hunted out—by an even better predator: humans.

Now, though, the lynx are coming back. Not on their own, of course. If all goes according to plan, British and Scottish conservationists say that by the end of 2015 they’ll put the lynx back where it belongs, at the center of the British isle’s food web. “At the moment, Great Britain’s forest ecosystems are broken,” says Paul O’Donoghue, the lead ecologist with Lynx UK Trust, the group in charge the effort. “The lynx is the best tool to add some balance to the forest ecosystem.” To do that, O’Donoghue’s team will undertake a process called “rewinding.” They’ll find lynx in other parts of the world, make sure they’re OK to move, and bring them to their new homes. It’s difficult and controversial, but if researchers are right, it’s also fantastically important.

Apex predators do a lot to keep an ecosystem together. For one, they keep lower predators and herbivores in check, so they don’t overbreed and decimate plant life…which in turn cascades into human civilizations. Ecologists have been able to trace events—through sometimes complicated linkages—like Lyme disease outbreaks, agriculture pest flare-ups, and even increased flooding to the absence of apex predators.

Bring those predators back, though, and an ecosystem can swing back to health. At least, that’s the idea.

The Eurasian lynx still roams wild in most of Europe, and all the way across Russia. O’Donoghue’s cats will come from eastern Europe. “These are the exact same species that used to live in the UK,” he says. This is the first order of business when rewilding: making sure that the predator is a good fit in its once and future home. This isn’t just to prevent obvious blunders—you wouldn’t put modern, African lions into the Canadian tundra. “We have to make sure we’re returning an animal to its historic natural range, some place where it makes sense ecologically,” says William Ripple, an ecologist at Oregon State University whose expertise was crucial in the 1990s reintroduction of wolves back into Yellowstone.

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http://www.wired.com/2015/03/first-time-millennium-top-predator-returns/

[Stargazer09]

1. I hope it works out

There are so many things we don't understand about ecology, but I think they are on the right track.

[niyad]

2. such a beautiful being. I hope this works.

[mopinko]

3. wolves are returning on their own here in illinois.

mountain lions, too.

hope that it works, and that idiots dont start shooting them.
also hope people dont freak out that they are killing bambi.

[Warpy]

4. A good case of Lyme disease will cure that

Bambi's hooves are bloody in that regard.

Hunters will scream the loudest, of course, because instead of blasting deer that have been browsing close to humans, they'll have to work to find them and when they do, those deer are going to be on high alert.

[mopinko]

5. well, there has been a lot of pushback about hunting them.

they are a real menace to gardens, and get hit by cars all the time. when they tried to have hunters thin them the same people who were crying about them eating the shrubbery started howling.

but the forest preserves here need wolves badly. they are a mess beyond human means to clean up.