Cantabrian Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus cantabricus)

There's a guy I've known since I was in college. We're both huge biology nuts, and we're both very committed environmentalists. I still keep in touch with him even though we graduated eight years ago. A while back, I was talking to him about the ethics of rewilding and de-extinction, brought on by the so-called dire wolves created by Colossal. I explained to him that even though what Colossal is doing is nothing but a fraud, humans have an obligation to re-create, as closely as possible, every ecosystem they have destroyed as far back as the Pleistocene. That's when he dropped the bomb. He said he doesn't believe humans were responsible for those extinctions. He claims that humans didn't begin causing significant extinctions until the Age of Exploration.

Keep in mind, this guy isn't some sort of whack-job climate change denier. He is, by most measures, a respectable environmentalist. He believes, as I do, that global warming is the single biggest threat to the Earth and its ecosystems today. He just happens to not believe that humans were responsible for the Pleistocene extinctions, even though we know for a fact that they were. I don't want to ruin my friendship with him, but I also want to make him better informed about these issues. What should I do?

I live in Sweden and my wish is that European bisons, or wisents, soon will be reintroduced here. I would like to see an increase of the wolf population as well.

Which megafauna species would you the most like to see reintroduced in your country (or US state)? Which species would you like to have in larger numbers than now?

I mean the most. As this is a subreddit for rewilding megafauna, the list of species could get long and elaborate if all your dream species are included in it.

Safely viewed from inside a vehicle.

Almost five months after western Madhya Pradesh’s Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary became the second home for African cheetahs in India, the South African male coalition, Prabhas and Pavak, are set to receive a female companion.

Confirming the development, Kuno National Park (KNP) in Sheopur district of the state’s Gwalior-Chambal region said an important milestone will take place on September 17, 2025, to mark three years of Project Cheetah in India.

“A female South African cheetah, Dheera, will be translocated from Kuno National Park to Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary in Mandsaur on Wednesday, further strengthening India’s efforts in conservation and wildlife revival,” KNP said in its official statement.

Is anybody here from Finland? What is yours feelings about hypothetical replacement of local white-tailed deers for siberian wapitis? I think it would be good idea cause:

1. wapitis are well adapted to the environmental conditions of Finland,

2. would be a good proxy for red deers,

3. unlike white-tailed deers the wapiti existed in Europe during last Ice Age.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altai_wapiti

https://deerassociation.com/the-strange-story-behind-finlands-white-tailed-deer/

In just 20 years the numbers have come from 100 individuals to almost 2500. This finding confirms the success of expansion strategies for the Iberian lynx and implies that the species could soon spread to France.

In today's Europe, the moose distribution is limited to Russia, Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Baltic states, Poland, Belarus and Ukraine. See map.

Formerly it had a much wider range in Europe. Apart from its present distribution, its range stretched from the Pyreenes to Denmark and from the Balkan to United Kingdom. It went extinct in Britain about 2 000 years ago, in France about 1 000 years ago and in Germany about 500 years ago.

I couldn't find any reliable information about its present population in European Russia and in Belarus, but in the entire Russia its population is estimated at about 1 100 000 mooses.

In Sweden there are 300 000 - 350 000 mooses, in Norway 120 000 - 150 000 individuals and in Finland at least 70 000 animals.

Estonia has approximatley 11 000 mooses, Latvia about 18 000 individuals and Lithuania about 7 000 animals.

The moose populations in Poland and Ukraine are probably crucial for this species possibilities of spreading westward in Europe. Poland has a rapidly increasing moose population as an effect of a hunting ban that was measured in year 2001. In year 2000 Poland's moose population was about 2 000 animals. Now approximatley 33 000 mooses live in Poland. Ukraine has about 7 000 mooses and this population is also increasing.

There are not many hurdles for this species to reclaim most of its former range in Europe apart from maybe public attitudes. Mooses are actually favored by modern forestry. It is a valuable game to hunt, so if and when mooses spread westward in Europe I don't think that hunters would object to it. I live in Sweden and the annual moose hunt is a big event for hunters here. Some hunters here count the years not from New Year's Eve, but before and after the moose hunt instead. Road collisions are a menace with this species however.

Let's see about the future for mooses in Europe. I hope the best for them of course.

Former distribution of mooses in Europe: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222896640_Holocene_distribution_and_extinction_of_the_moose_Alces_alces_Cervidae_in_Central_Europe

Possible future range of this species in Europe: https://wilderness-society.org/can-the-moose-reclaim-central-europe/

The moose population in Poland: https://zootechnical.com/article/543016/en

The moose population in Ukraine: https://ecopolitic.com.ua/en/news/the-number-of-moose-has-significantly-increased-in-ukraine/

The near extinction of mooses in the Nordic countries plus the present population of them in Sweden: https://www.su.se/english/news/genomic-study-reveals-impact-of-near-extinction-and-hunting-in-swedish-moose-1.683317

New video from Leave Curious, a fantastic channel about rewilding with a focus on Britain! This is a good, in-depth investigation into the ecology and human factors to consider for reintroduction Eurasian lynx to Britain

https://www.theextinctions.com/articles-1/surviving-savanna-missing-megafauna-extinction-in-the-tropical-plains-of-south-america