In Northern Siberia, a Mammoth Steppe Ecosystem
Pleistocene Park is an ambitious project begun in 1988 by Sergei Zimov based in the Sakha Republic, Northern Siberia to make a facsimile prehistoric landscape, complete with predators, herbivores, plants, and a self-sustaining ecosystem.
According to Pleistocene Park's website:
An analysis of bones collected in northern Siberia has allowed scientists to calculate that the animal biomass, even in the coldest periods in the north, reached 10 ton/km2, and that the average per square kilometer of pasture included one mammoth, five bison, six horses, and 10 reindeer. The number of animals in the southern steppes or wet steppes was significantly higher than in the north.
Steppe Ecosystem Recreation. Photo Credit: The Evolution Institute
Zimov's goal is to mimic the last ice age, and his purpose is to prove that hunting, and not climate change, eliminated species.
For example, at an archaeological site a dog's skull was found that had a fragment of a mammoth bone in it's mouth. This and other pieces of evidence are used to argue that humans used dogs to hunt mammoths, which would help them hunt more efficiently.
This is a very controversial topic, though. Climate change is still considered the main culprit for mammoth and other large Pleistocene mammal extinction.
So far Zimov and his colleagues have successfully introduced reindeer, moose, musk oxen, and yakut horses.
Domestic Reindeer (also called caribou), Rangifer tarandus, herds in the tundra
Moose, also called elk, Alces alces
Muskoxen, Ovibos moschatus
Yakut horses, Equus ferus caballus
The introduction of American bison (Bison bison) in place of the extinct steppe bison (Bison priscus) was just recently completed.
An American bison butting heads with a large muskox.
They hope to introduce a few more species in the near future, including saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica), yaks (Bos grunniens), and the Siberian tiger (Panthera tigris ataica).
Saiga antelope are critically endangered.
Yaks are domesticated animals.
Siberian tigers, also called Amur tigers, are endangered in the wild.
Part 1 here!
Part 3 about the Siberian tiger reintroduction coming soon!
This is based on a piece of creative nonfiction I wrote 9 years ago. I'm sort of testing ideas for children's books, so if you have any input on my writing or formatting, please let me know.
Image Credits:
- Thumbnail: Shutterstock
- Map: Taken from Wikipedia's Pleistocene Park page
- Steppe Ecosystem: Taken from The Evolution Institute's website
- Dog Skull with Mammoth Bone Fragment in Mouth: Taken from Penn State Science's website
- Reindeer: Taken from Pleistocene Park's webpage
- Moose: Taken from Pleistocene Park's webpage
- Muskoxen: Taken from Pleistocene Park's webpage
- Yakut Horses: Taken from Pleistocene Park's webpage
- Bison and Muskox: Taken from Pleistocene Park's webpage
- Saiga Antelope: Taken from Wikipedia
- Yak: Taken from Pixabay
- Siberian Tiger: Taken from Pixabay
