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I saw a documentary (PBS? Ken Burns? Something like that) about bison and I'm astonished we have any left today. They had a couple of private herds and a handfu

by y33t 2y ago

I saw a documentary (PBS? Ken Burns? Something like that) about bison and I'm astonished we have any left today. They had a couple of private herds and a handful of individuals in zoos, and that was just about it. That's after having a population, less than a century previous, that produced regular accounts of covering the land for as far as the eye could see. The only reason we didn't wipe them out completely was because of just a few people working independently of one another who thought it would be a shame to see them disappear.

gooseus 2y ago
https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-american-buffalo https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-american-buffalo Wonderful documentary.
- TomBombadildoze 2y ago
  Buffalo also feature prominently in The West, another fantastic Ken Burns documentary. https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-west/ https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-west/
karmakurtisaani 2y ago
Something similar also happened in Europe. They were eradicated everywhere but a small natural park in Poland. Now they are being reintroduced, although I don't know where they will find the space.
- linkregister 2y ago
  European Bison?
  - pjmlp 2y ago
    Yep, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_bison https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_bison
- sidewndr46 2y ago
  Somewhat curiously, there is another recently extinct animal the "Auroch" which was hunted to extinction as well. As recently as 1000 years ago they were quite plentiful, but completely extinct by the time Europeans started moving to the Americas
  - WorkerBee28474 2y ago
    There have been some, let's say, 'interesting' attempts to recreate the species via back-breeding [0]. They seem to be having some success. [0] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/nazi-super-cows-extinct-auroch-bring-back-aryan-myths-17th-century-adolf-hitler-ecosystem-preserve-tauros-project-a7518766.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/nazi-super-cows-e...
  - dendrite9 2y ago
    Lions were also roaming Europe relatively recently, likely into the middle ages.
- bkovacev 2y ago
  Fruska gora, a mountain region in Serbia, has acquired or were gifted 5 European bisons from Poland[0]. It's always heartwarming to see a country working extremely hard to preserve any species. It was devastating news for a lot of people that one of the bisons, Djuka, passed away recently (not to be confused with a Serbian politician Vladimir Djukanovic also known as bison Djuka[1]). [0] https://www.gov.pl/web/srbija/poljski-bizoni-u-nacionalnom-parku-fruka-gora#:~:text=Poljska%20u%20Srbiji,-MENU&text=Krdo%20od%205%20bizona%20(4,uslove%20za%20život%20i%20razmnožavanje. https://www.gov.pl/web/srbija/poljski-bizoni-u-nacionalnom-p... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Đukanović https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Đukanović
writtenAnswer 2y ago
Makes sense. In Zoo tycoon, these fuckers kept breeding like no one's business.
sidewndr46 2y ago
It was a deliberate attempt to deprive Native Americans of their historical means of support. You can't besiege a Native American city because they had already been pushed off their historical lands. But if you can eliminate a major source of food for them, it's possibly even more effective. In general people under-estimate the capability of humanity to eradicate other forms of life. We've managed to eliminates organisms as plentiful as things like rinderpest for example. Large animals are actually easier. Were it not for a last minute change, almost all forms of whales would have been extinct in the 20th century. We've been the most advanced life form on Earth for a long time, possibly even before modern humans arrived. But in the past 1000 years or so we really became the most dominant life form. Our population has exploded and we can pretty much push out any other form of life we choose.
- snowwrestler 2y ago
  Latest estimates I recall are that humans and our livestock together comprise over 90% of the total mass of land animals globally. All wild animals together are less than 10%. The mental picture of a wild Earth on which humans live is now outdated. The Earth has become a human place, with essentially some open-air zoos containing the few wild animals we have chosen to not kill.
  - gus_massa 2y ago
    xkcd 1338: Land Mammals https://xkcd.com/1338/ https://xkcd.com/1338/ https://explainxkcd.com/1338/ https://explainxkcd.com/1338/
    - 0xcafecafe 2y ago
      Bacteria still outweigh us a thousand to one and that's not counting those already in our bodies is a great alt-text as well.
      - mitthrowaway2 2y ago
        Bacteria aren't really animals though.
openasocket 2y ago
There are several examples of this in other species. The Przewalski horse is probably one of the most dramatic examples. The population was reduced to around a dozen individuals, all in captivity. After an intensive breeding and reintroduction program, the population is now around 2,000, with several hundred of those in the wild. There's also the Père David's deer. It's an interesting species: the only semi-aquatic deer species. It has webbing between its hooves and eats aquativ plants (along with grass). They were hunted essentially to extinction in their native territory in China, the only remaining individuals were a handful taken by missionaries (including Père David, their namesake). Today their population is over 8,000, with hundreds reintroduced to the wild. It's sad to think about, but it's also hopeful in a way. Humanity as a whole nearly killed these species, but a few dedicated individuals were able to save them.
- PlunderBunny 2y ago
  The Black Robin in New Zealand is almost the most extreme example of a recovery from near extinction: Just 1 female and 5 males in the early 1980s have now bred a population of around 300 individuals. There's an interesting story in the wikipedia page [0] of 'edge laying' egg behaviour, and how humans initially corrected the problem but later had to stop to ensure the behaviour wasn't propagated. 0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_robin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_robin
david38 2y ago
This is not true. An officer from the US was sent to protect the Yellowstone herd at some point. IIRC he had previously been assigned to fight Indians and had a track record for “effectiveness” aka modern day war crimes. Apparently this was more a personality trait than particular hatred of the tribes of the plains because when he was ordered to protect the bison, he did it with the same energy and “effectiveness”. Not claiming he was the only one, but possibly the only one with enough guns, soldiers T his command, the backing of an executive order, and a dim enough view of human life to move the needle as much as he did. I need to go research this again and erase this comment if I’m talking trash or update it if I’m not.
kjkjadksj 2y ago
They’ve essentially been replaced with cattle. There are probably more cattle on american and europeans grazing lands today than there were ever bison if I had to guess.

by y33t 2y ago

gooseus 2y ago

https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-american-buffalo https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-american-buffalo Wonderful documentary.

TomBombadildoze 2y ago
Buffalo also feature prominently in The West, another fantastic Ken Burns documentary. https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-west/ https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-west/

karmakurtisaani 2y ago

Something similar also happened in Europe. They were eradicated everywhere but a small natural park in Poland. Now they are being reintroduced, although I don't know where they will find the space.

linkregister 2y ago
European Bison?
- pjmlp 2y ago
  Yep, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_bison https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_bison
sidewndr46 2y ago
Somewhat curiously, there is another recently extinct animal the "Auroch" which was hunted to extinction as well. As recently as 1000 years ago they were quite plentiful, but completely extinct by the time Europeans started moving to the Americas
- WorkerBee28474 2y ago
  There have been some, let's say, 'interesting' attempts to recreate the species via back-breeding [0]. They seem to be having some success. [0] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/nazi-super-cows-extinct-auroch-bring-back-aryan-myths-17th-century-adolf-hitler-ecosystem-preserve-tauros-project-a7518766.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/nazi-super-cows-e...
- dendrite9 2y ago
  Lions were also roaming Europe relatively recently, likely into the middle ages.
bkovacev 2y ago
Fruska gora, a mountain region in Serbia, has acquired or were gifted 5 European bisons from Poland[0]. It's always heartwarming to see a country working extremely hard to preserve any species. It was devastating news for a lot of people that one of the bisons, Djuka, passed away recently (not to be confused with a Serbian politician Vladimir Djukanovic also known as bison Djuka[1]). [0] https://www.gov.pl/web/srbija/poljski-bizoni-u-nacionalnom-parku-fruka-gora#:~:text=Poljska%20u%20Srbiji,-MENU&text=Krdo%20od%205%20bizona%20(4,uslove%20za%20život%20i%20razmnožavanje. https://www.gov.pl/web/srbija/poljski-bizoni-u-nacionalnom-p... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Đukanović https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Đukanović

writtenAnswer 2y ago

Makes sense. In Zoo tycoon, these fuckers kept breeding like no one's business.

sidewndr46 2y ago

It was a deliberate attempt to deprive Native Americans of their historical means of support. You can't besiege a Native American city because they had already been pushed off their historical lands. But if you can eliminate a major source of food for them, it's possibly even more effective. In general people under-estimate the capability of humanity to eradicate other forms of life. We've managed to eliminates organisms as plentiful as things like rinderpest for example. Large animals are actually easier. Were it not for a last minute change, almost all forms of whales would have been extinct in the 20th century. We've been the most advanced life form on Earth for a long time, possibly even before modern humans arrived. But in the past 1000 years or so we really became the most dominant life form. Our population has exploded and we can pretty much push out any other form of life we choose.

snowwrestler 2y ago
Latest estimates I recall are that humans and our livestock together comprise over 90% of the total mass of land animals globally. All wild animals together are less than 10%. The mental picture of a wild Earth on which humans live is now outdated. The Earth has become a human place, with essentially some open-air zoos containing the few wild animals we have chosen to not kill.
- gus_massa 2y ago
  xkcd 1338: Land Mammals https://xkcd.com/1338/ https://xkcd.com/1338/ https://explainxkcd.com/1338/ https://explainxkcd.com/1338/
  - 0xcafecafe 2y ago
    Bacteria still outweigh us a thousand to one and that's not counting those already in our bodies is a great alt-text as well.
    - mitthrowaway2 2y ago
      Bacteria aren't really animals though.

openasocket 2y ago

There are several examples of this in other species. The Przewalski horse is probably one of the most dramatic examples. The population was reduced to around a dozen individuals, all in captivity. After an intensive breeding and reintroduction program, the population is now around 2,000, with several hundred of those in the wild. There's also the Père David's deer. It's an interesting species: the only semi-aquatic deer species. It has webbing between its hooves and eats aquativ plants (along with grass). They were hunted essentially to extinction in their native territory in China, the only remaining individuals were a handful taken by missionaries (including Père David, their namesake). Today their population is over 8,000, with hundreds reintroduced to the wild. It's sad to think about, but it's also hopeful in a way. Humanity as a whole nearly killed these species, but a few dedicated individuals were able to save them.

PlunderBunny 2y ago
The Black Robin in New Zealand is almost the most extreme example of a recovery from near extinction: Just 1 female and 5 males in the early 1980s have now bred a population of around 300 individuals. There's an interesting story in the wikipedia page [0] of 'edge laying' egg behaviour, and how humans initially corrected the problem but later had to stop to ensure the behaviour wasn't propagated. 0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_robin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_robin

david38 2y ago

This is not true. An officer from the US was sent to protect the Yellowstone herd at some point. IIRC he had previously been assigned to fight Indians and had a track record for “effectiveness” aka modern day war crimes. Apparently this was more a personality trait than particular hatred of the tribes of the plains because when he was ordered to protect the bison, he did it with the same energy and “effectiveness”. Not claiming he was the only one, but possibly the only one with enough guns, soldiers T his command, the backing of an executive order, and a dim enough view of human life to move the needle as much as he did. I need to go research this again and erase this comment if I’m talking trash or update it if I’m not.

kjkjadksj 2y ago

They’ve essentially been replaced with cattle. There are probably more cattle on american and europeans grazing lands today than there were ever bison if I had to guess.