Recolonizing Carnivores and Naïve Prey: Conservation Lessons from Pleistocene Extinctions.
Berger J, Swenson JE, Persson IL. 2001. Recolonizing Carnivores and Naïve Prey: Conservation Lessons from Pleistocene Extinctions.. Science. 291(5506):1036-1039
The current extinction of many of Earth's large terrestrial carnivores has left some extant prey species lacking knowledge about contemporary predators, a situation roughly parallel to that 10,000 to 50,000 years ago, when naïve animals first encountered colonizing human hunters. Along present-day carnivore recolonization fronts, brown (also called grizzly) bears killed predator-naïve adult moose at disproportionately high rates in Scandinavia, and moose mothers who lost juveniles to recolonizing wolves in North America's Yellowstone region developed hypersensitivity to wolf howls. Although prey that had been unfamiliar with dangerous predators for as few as 50 to 130 years were highly vulnerable to initial encounters, behavioral adjustments to reduce predation transpired within a single generation. The fact that at least one prey species quickly learns to be wary of restored carnivores should negate fears about localized prey extinction.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Berger, Joel; Swenson, Jon; Persson, Inga
- Units
- GRTE , YELL
- Keywords
- Animal Studies, Gray Wolf (Canis lupus), Mammals, Moose (Alces alces), Predation, Reintroduction (Canis lupus), Wolves (Canidae)