AHC: Save an extinct species.
- Thread starter Duke Andrew of Dank
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True lol all Europeans have the like 5% in them but i mean a true blooded Neanderthal perhaps their last reach is northern baltic regions or something be prutty cool
For the Carolina parakeet: perhaps have the pet trade go for captive breeding early on and have the general mood on them be either neutral or mixed. Also, moves made to protect the Ivory-billed Woodpecker could potentially help protect the Carolina parakeet too.
Either that, or have John Muir warn Theodore Roosevelt that the Carolina Parakeet, Passenger Pigeon and Ivory-billed Woodpecker (although I believe the Ivory-billed Woodpecker is actually still alive) are in danger of extinction early on. You could have the pair set up a program offering live specimens to be kept and bred in zoos.
You could also have at least the Carolina Parakeet or Ivory-billed Woodpecker be introduced (accidentally or intentionally) elsewhere. Maybe someone releases some Ivory-bills in places like California, New Zealand and Southern Australia (preferably Tasmania), where they ironically get themselves established and become an invasive species.
Really, you could save a lot of animals by introducing them elsewhere, as long as they can establish themselves in the new environment.
Either that, or have John Muir warn Theodore Roosevelt that the Carolina Parakeet, Passenger Pigeon and Ivory-billed Woodpecker (although I believe the Ivory-billed Woodpecker is actually still alive) are in danger of extinction early on. You could have the pair set up a program offering live specimens to be kept and bred in zoos.
You could also have at least the Carolina Parakeet or Ivory-billed Woodpecker be introduced (accidentally or intentionally) elsewhere. Maybe someone releases some Ivory-bills in places like California, New Zealand and Southern Australia (preferably Tasmania), where they ironically get themselves established and become an invasive species.
Really, you could save a lot of animals by introducing them elsewhere, as long as they can establish themselves in the new environment.
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Fun fact the last Carolina Parakeet died in the same cage at the Cincinnati Zoo as the last Passenger Pigeon. I find it strange that neither species, having survived into the 1900s, successfully bred in captivity, nor adapted into urban living, which provides a very safe alternative to birds (look at Rock pigeons, or Monk parakeets as a parallel to both).
Their huge flocks might have changed their demeanor to the point that they need them to reproduce, but I am no biologist so who knows. In all realness though, saving any of these three main bird species doesn't seem that hard, things need to only change a little.
Modern Imperialism
Banned
They could use them as pets, meat, and eggs. They can be used for multiple things really. I could see some random European just staring at one and just picking up a few to take back home. Some monarch or people like them and the rest becomes history. They might do well in Africa too with humans protecting them. Most domesticated farm animals are actually completely useless to environment if not harmful to it and can’t take care of themselves most of time as it is. Dodo probably can do well almost anywhere not cold with humans protecting them like livestock or pets
Barry Bull
Donor
Elephants eat too much for them to be a useful beast except in abundant locations or have a wide area to forage. Do not forget most livestocks were slaughtered before winter due to insufficient feed.
There is also the problem presented by the cold winter itself.
Delaying human arrival on Madagascar would probably help the elephant birds, giant lemurs and Malagasy pygmy hippos.
Problem with mammoths is that their decline is closely linked to massive flora turnover in the northern hemisphere grasslands. The mammoth steppe and tundra that they used to live on got replaced by a modern steppe with more grasses and less herbaceous plants. Much less energy density, that plus the human hunting pressure killed 'em.
Same thing killed off the Columbian mammoth; heck, later specimens even start to show adaptations to the new habitat, shrinking in size and arguably getting more complex teeth, but then humans came along.
Several indigenous Australian tribal groups develop a symbiotic relationship with the mainland thylacine before it dies off 3 to 8 thousand year ago, adopting these animals as 'camp dogs' in lieu of the dingo, presumably because they (the tigers) were more efficient at the longrange running down of wallabies as individual predators.
Modern Imperialism
Banned
But they are mini elephants. They did adept to need less food due to being in Europe hence the reason they are smaller. I am not sure on details of species but it looks shorter then cow but with long tusk and probably stronger. It might be slow moving those. It looks like a dwarf elephant.
Any chance of the early Maori quasi-domesticating Moa instead of hunting them to extinction? This would probably do double duty in saving both the Moa and the Haast Eagle.
I don't see how that helps the Haast Eagle as presumably Maori farmers would want to stop them predating their flocks...
I’m operating under the assumption that lack of food supply killed off the Haast Eagle and that, so long as they can pick off the occasional Moa, enough of them would manage to avoid humans to survive up to present. I admit that is probably more wishful thinking than anything.
That's probably why the Wrangel Island herd outlived the mainland herds by 6,000 years. I understand that even today Wrangel Island has a more diverse flora, more species of plants than any comparable location on the same latitude. I've no idea why that is, but perhaps it's similar to the ancient, mammoth-friendly tundra? I agree you'd somehow have to keep humans away.
There's an isolated remnant of the mammoth steppe on the Ukok plateau in the Altai mountains. I think it has something to do with the humidity; during the Ice Age, Siberia was mostly ice-free due to monsoon air pushing up north through the Himalayan passes. Whatever the case, it's a mixed grassland dominated by high-energy-density grasses, sedges, wildflowers, and shrubs like small willows. Extremely fertile environment.
Agreed on humans, we tend to push at-risk species over the edge.
The Sea Cow.
Maybe when the Europeans come some of them end up accidentally following them and expanding over the coast by following the ships.
Or maybe they simply flee to more isolated areas and last long enough to be indentified as an animal in a state of extreme danger, and protected (even if probably extinct on the wild)
Maybe when the Europeans come some of them end up accidentally following them and expanding over the coast by following the ships.
Or maybe they simply flee to more isolated areas and last long enough to be indentified as an animal in a state of extreme danger, and protected (even if probably extinct on the wild)
Steller's Sea Cow is an interesting one.
It was able to be wiped out in a very short span of time because its' range was already greatly decreased, and populations under pressure. You see, Steller's Sea Cow grazed on kelp forests, which were dying off. Why were the kelp forests dying off? They were being eaten by sea urchins, whose numbers were exploding. Why were they exploding? Lack of predation pressure, because the sea otters that prey on them were being hunted for their fur.
In fact, Bering's expedition, on which Steller discovered his sea cow, was carried out partly in service of the fur trade.
https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/clarence-maltons-flock.268740/
Just going to link Talwar's excellent timeline here...
Just going to link Talwar's excellent timeline here...