Recolonizing carnivores and naïve prey: Conservation lessons from pleistocene extinctions

摘要: The current extinction of many Earth's large terrestrial carnivores has left some extant prey species lacking knowledge about contemporary predators, a situation roughly parallel to that 10,000 50,000 years ago, when naive animals first encountered colonizing human hunters. Along present-day carnivore recolonization fronts, brown (also called grizzly) bears killed predator-naive adult moose at disproportionately high rates in Scandinavia, and mothers who lost juveniles recolonizing wolves North America's Yellowstone region developed hypersensitivity wolf howls. Although had been unfamiliar with dangerous predators for as few 50 130 were highly vulnerable initial encounters, behavioral adjustments reduce predation transpired within single generation. fact least one quickly learns be wary restored should negate fears localized extinction.