Recolonizing carnivores and naive prey: Conservation lessons from Pleistocene extinctions

The current extinction of many of Earth's Large terrestrial carnivores has Left some extant prey species Lacking knowledge about contemporary predator s, a situation roughly parallel to that 10,000 to 50,000 years ago, when na ive animals first encountered colonizing human hunters. Along present-day c arnivore recolonization fronts, brown (also called grizzly) bears killed pr edator-naive adult moose at disproportionately high rates in Scandinavia, a nd moose mothers who Lost juveniles to recolonizing wolves in North America 's Yellowstone region developed hypersensitivity to wolf howls. Although pr ey that had been unfamiliar with dangerous predators for as few as 50 to 13 0 years were highly vulnerable to initial encounters, behavioral adjustment s to reduce predation transpired within a single generation. The fact that at Least one prey species quickly Learns to be wary of restored carnivores should negate fears about Localized prey extinction.