Wild mammals are making a comeback in Europe

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 By the first half of the 20th century, many of Europe’s mammals had been reduced to just a fraction of their historical levels. Millennia of hunting, exploitation, and habitat loss had forced them into decline. Many had been wiped out completely.

But most mammal populations have seen a dramatic increase over the last 50 years. 

In 2013, a coalition of conservation organizations – including the Zoological Society of London; Birdlife International; and Rewilding Europe – published a report on how mammal populations across Europe had changed since 1960.3 They looked at the change in po pulations of 18 mammal species. The results are shown in the chart.

There are more than 30 times the number of European bisons alive today than there were in 1960.

Brown bear populations achieved an average increase of 100% – a doubling. For Eurasian elk, this was a tripling. Red deer have increased five-fold, on average.

The Eurasian beaver has made the most remarkable recovery. It’s estimated to have increased by 140-fold, on average. There were likely only a few thousand beavers left in Europe in first half of the 20th century.4 Today there are more than 330,000. 

All species but one – the Iberian lynx – have significantly increased in numbers. Despite its 50-year decline, there is recent positive news for the Iberian lynx. Over the last decade it has been making a remarkable recovery. So much so that the IUCN moved it from Critically Endangered to Endangered on the Red List in 2015.

 Source - https://ourworldindata.org/europe-mammal-comeback

[Sneaky Oliver 18,525]

Great news! I really wish there was a global organization thing such as UN or WHO to protect the animals world wide. As we saw during pandemics, nature can have its resurgence if we give it time and space, we really need to protect it at any cost at this point 

[CAPRISONGS 862]

did a bigger comeback than break my soul

[Mother of Puppies 26,622]

I live in the only area in my country where we do have wild bisons

 

there are also wolf sightings every once in a while which I find really exciting

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16 hours ago, Mother of Puppies said:

I live in the only area in my country where we do have wild bisons

 

there are also wolf sightings every once in a while which I find really exciting

In Rothaargebirge? 

Bisons were such a symbol of Northern-Central Europe, it was a shame they were hunted down close to extinction. Living from the north of Spain/ Germany all the way to Russia & Siberia. 

[Magic Mike 1,877]

in my country we celebrate the rise of the iberian lynx, although the arrow shows them in decline

[Mother of Puppies 26,622]

22 minutes ago, FfFfFfFF said:

In Rothaargebirge? 

Yes. With that statement I just revealed in what area I live lol

Actually... when they started this "experiment" with the bisons, which was only a few years ago... I was in Uni and we were the first to do a big research in one of my courses about the bisons here. (Cuz they just started implementing them in the area)

Edited July 1 by Mother of Puppies

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14 minutes ago, Mother of Puppies said:

Yes. With that statement I just revealed in what area I live lol

Actually... when they started this "experiment" with the bisons, which was only a few years ago... I was in Uni and we were the first to do a big research in one of my courses about the bisons here. (Cuz they just started implementing them in the area)

I also live close to a bison reservation, though there are multiple ones so you would not be able to tell the location.  I want to see the bisons eventually retaking the whole of Europe, not just small areas.

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On 6/30/2022 at 8:23 PM, Sneaky Oliver said:

Great news! I really wish there was a global organization thing such as UN or WHO to protect the animals world wide. As we saw during pandemics, nature can have its resurgence if we give it time and space, we really need to protect it at any cost at this point 

At the very least we can use the existing global or regional organizations to protect the enviroment. For starters, I want EU to get it together and stop Austrian firms from deforestating Romania.  Some of the last remaning virgin forests in Europe are put in danger by corruption and greed.

[Sneaky Oliver 18,525]

1 hour ago, FfFfFfFF said:

Some of the last remaning virgin forests in Europe are put in danger by corruption and greed.

Don’t even get me started on talking about what Brazilian government is doing to Amazon rainforest  they’re basically turning it into a huge pasture to keep the meat market going, extracting woods and slaughtering the native folks while they’re at it 

[AnnaNicoleSmith 29,461]

Could it be because of climate change?

[RAMROD 79,927]

It's becoming Australia 

 

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On 7/2/2022 at 3:48 PM, AnnaNicoleSmith said:

Could it be because of climate change?

The climate nowdays would be less favorable to what these animals would have been used to historically. It can relate to climate change in the sense that nowadays some centers of polutions moved to other continents and so there are more forests in Europe. 

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