(Last) Lecture 27

1. Pleistocene
Rewilding – A
controversial Idea

2. The ultimate sacrifice

for Wildlife – Dian
Fossey and the Gorillas
in the Mist
 1. Pleistocene Rewilding – A controversial Idea…or “an ‘optimistic
alternative’ to the grim projected losses of biodiversity”?

Woolly mammoths were driven to extinction by climate change and human

impacts. (Credit: Mauricio Anton)
10,000 years ago in North America:
5 genera of elephants, 2 species of bison, 4 camels, ground sloths, giant beaver,
giant armadillos, 10 species of wild horses, 1 wild cow, woodland musk ox, tapirs….
1. Pleistocene Rewilding  

Rationale (Donlan et al. 2005):  

1. Earth is not pristine – Human impact pervades every ecosystem  

2. Environmentalists are caricatured as purveyors of doom and gloom

“documenting the decline…”  

3. In some areas - like the Great Plains – human land –use patterns are
declining  

4. Humans probably partly responsible for the Late Pleistocene

extinctions in North America à Ethical responsibility for restoration  
Argument: Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) evolved its speed in
co-evolution with the now extinct American Cheetah (Miracinonyx
trumani)
1st Step: Reintroduction of Bolson Tortoise
(Gopherus flavomarginatus)
IUCN Vulnerable, once widespread in SW US,
survives only in Mapimi Biosphere Reserve, Mexico
1. Pleistocene Rewilding using African and Asian Species
1. Pleistocene Rewilding using African and Asian Species
1. Pleistocene Rewilding using African and Asian Species
 1. Pleistocene
Rewilding

Ted Turner – 2nd largest

individual landowner in North
America.

Turner Enterprises manages

over 55,000 head of bison
across the various Turner
ranches
1. Pleistocene Rewilding
– A controversial Idea

Pleistocene re-wilding in North America.

Symbols represent horses (Equus caballus
and E. asinus in black; E. przewalskii and
E. hemionus in grey), Bolson tortoises,
camelids, cheetahs, Asian (grey) and
African (black) elephants, and lions.
a) The likely timescale and area required
to restore proxies for extinct large
vertebrates.
b) Conservation value and ecological role
(interactivity with other species) on the
landscape.
c) Potential economic/cultural value versus
potential conflict.
1. Pleistocene Rewilding
– Critique (Rubenstein et al. 2006)

1. Economic Impact on ongoing conservation Efforts in Africa and Asia etc.

2. Evolutionarily questionable (“Playing God”)

3. Reality of large mammal introduction: Potential conflicts

4. Jeopardizes indigenous species & ecosystems

5. Resources better spent on preserving threatened organisms in their native

habitat
 1. Pleistocene Rewilding
– Ongoing Experiment: Pleistocene Park, Siberia (Zimov 2005) using
mostly native Eurasian Species.
Animals already present in the
park: http://www.pleistocenepark.ru/en/
Carnivores: Eurasian Lynx, Grey
Wolf, Arctic Fox, Eurasian Brown
Bear, Wolverine, Red Fox,
Herbivores: Reindeer, Elk,
European Bison, Moose, Yakutian
horse, Muskox

Animals considered or suggested

for reintroduction:
Carnivores: Amur Leopard,
Siberian Tiger, Asiatic Lion,
Spotted Hyena (?)
Herbivores: Yak, Snow Sheep,
Saiga antelope, Bactrian Camel,
Siberian Roe Deer, Woolly
Mammoth, Rhinoceros.
2. The ultimate Sacrifice for
Wildlife - Dian Fossey
(1932 – 1985)

One of anthropologist Louis Leakey’s

three primatologist protégés:
• Jane Goodall (Chimps)
• Biruté Galdikas (Orang-Utans)
• Dian Fossey (Mountain Gorillas)

Studied Mountain Gorillas in the

montane forests of Rwanda for 18
years.

She was murdered in 1985

possibly in retaliation for her aggressive
and controversial anti-poaching actions
andher resistance to a lucrative gorilla
Dian Fossey in November 1985;
tourism favored by the Rwandan photograph by Yann Arthus-Bertrand
government..

Bestselling Book by D. Fossey:

Gorillas in the Mist (1983).
2. The ultimate Sacrifice for Wildlife

Gorillas in the Mist

- 1988 American drama film directed
by Michael Apted and starring
Sigourney Weaver as naturalist Dian
Fossey.

(the gorillas are playing themselves ;-)

Movie still with Sigourney Weaver

as Dian Fossey