You ever try polar bear with a stick and flint tip?
I am (barely) smarter than that! Tho I do have a mild itch to try it on moose - it's legal, and there have been times when the range was right!
Besides, non-Natives can't hunt 'em in US, nor import remains from elsewhere.
Heck, I don't even have a hunt-usable bow anymore. Until it becomes season advantageous I won't, tho it's a heck of a lot of fun. Too much trouble/expense for too little return..... at least at my skill level. Rifle works just fine, even at archery ranges.
Personnally, I'd be tickled to death to see'um bring back such critters, especially the Sabre Tooth, and that nasty wolf, as long as they were released in down town DC, or even NYC, well maybe a few in FairyVille (SF). Could ya imagine how durn hilarius it would be, to have Nancy Palosy come out her front door and find a Bison Antiguus grazein' on her lawn?? Twink
Alaska would be a good place to possibly release several "un-extincted" species like mammoths and latifrons bison. Alaska has had some success with reintroducing woodland bison and has the space.
While we are waiting for scientist to successfully clone extinct species though there are species currently going extinct that could be given a new lease by being reintroduced into Alaska like the saiga antelope: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saiga_antelope and possibly even lions. Bear gun lion gun - what's the difference.
I am not sure whether the short faced bears or passenger pigeons scare me more. Our grandcestors might have killed both off for good reasons(?)
I heard they were trying to bring back the "honest politician", but they couldn't find enough DNA.
We have to keep our goals realistic.
Ironbender - I accidentally sat through the Legislative hearing on the new woodland bison introduction. There was an impressive variety of support for the project.
How would you all feel about reintroducing endangered or un-extincted predators into the Alaska wilderness? These might include: lions, dire wolves, short-faced bear, giant sloth (pseudo-predator), and various sabre-toothed cats. We already have to be on guard for bears and other dangers but can someone assume the responsibility for almost inevitable encounters with reintroduced predators?
Have you all seen "Blue Babe" in the UAF museum? This is a rare latifrons bison mummy. It was originally killed near Fairbanks by lions.
I am not really aware of any empty ecosystems which need filling at this time. Every species needs a place to live and reproduce, When one introduces a new species, it displaces something which is already there.
I am not real familiar with Alaska, but I would be surprised if introducing another invasive species would be a good idea.
People who choose to brew up their own storms bitch loudest about the rain.
I am not really aware of any empty ecosystems which need filling at this time. Every species needs a place to live and reproduce, When one introduces a new species, it displaces something which is already there.
I am not real familiar with Alaska, but I would be surprised if introducing another invasive species would be a good idea.
That was old school thinking even here once. The main difference is that this would not be introducing new invasive species but rather reintroducing species that seem to have been prematurely killed off by something. When the first bison herd was reintroduced we actually had missions to fly helicopters out to chase the moose away from the bison because they were attempting to fornicate with them. Eventually the hippies overly concerned biologist gave up protecting the bisons' virtue and the bison started doing even better. This caused more study into grazers and browsers having a beneficial relationship. This has spawned some theories about how the Pleistocene was able to support such a tremendous number of mega-fauna especially in Beringia. Basically the theory (that I like at least) is that there were different seasonal grazers as well as high and low browsers whose fairly constant migrations tilled and fertilized the now tundra soil supporting grasslands and trees where they cannot grow today due to moss taking over in the absence of grasses. The real invasive species was the tundra moss. Some people even suggest that this could reverse "global warming." http://www.beg.utexas.edu/indassoc/...ms/Cretaceous_climate_workshop_sched.pdf Intentional and accidental species reintroductions "seem" to be working pretty well for the most part here and in the Yukon like the wild horses taking up where their extinct grandcestors used to live:
I don't think we should be tinkering with DNA from extinct animals. The current platette of flora and fauna seems to be perfectly capable of maintaining a population balance of predator/prey.
We have positioned ourselves, vis a vis Governmental Regulated Game Management, as the determinant prey population authority. WE are the determining predators and I don't think we need any additional hep by re-introducing an already extinct species.