5 Most Famous REWILDING Projects in the WORLD

5 of the best known rewilding projects in the world! Come see how putting nature back at the wheel has given hope to conservationists and wildlife lovers around the world!
#megafauna #naturerestoration #rewildingmegafauna #rewildingeurope #rewildingbritain #rewildingamerica #pleistocenerewilding #rewildingpatagonia
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[@Eco-Nerd]

Hey guys, just to clarify, Jaguars were reintroduced to the Iberà Wetlands and that's where capybara and caiman are found also. The Tompkins rewilded land in Iberà as well as Patagonia 😊

[@peasinourthyme5722]

Thank you so much for this great report! Rewilding is the most inspirational and uplifting thing we humans have come up with lately. Imagine that, stepping away and giving room...how out of character :D Now I´m sitting here, trying to make my brain get a grasp on how much 4 million hectares is...

[@Eco-Nerd]

Delighted that you enjoyed it! Yeah rewilding has really captivated me and seems to have done the same to lots of people! Definitely out of character for humans and I think the thought of letting go of the controls, still makes people nervous.. Well, 4 million acres is definitely a lot 🤣

[@deatherutts]

Isn't funny everyone talk's about reintroduction cute prey and cute little predator's but big predator's what is needed is still questioned ironic ain't it

[@Eco-Nerd]

For sure! Apex predators are vital in any ecosystem!

[@deatherutts]

@@Eco-Nerd Yeah but most people have the man mentality that they are superior to nature and only they should be top predator

[@WILD__THINGS]

Absolutely they are needed. But these projects do the best they can, often with minimal resources and major public backlash. They are trying to balance wild areas with human populated ones and having large predators that can potentially prey on livestock, pets, and possibly even attack people just doesn't work most of the time, unfortunately. Consider that carnivores such as wolves, bears, and lynx need to range across thousands of square miles. In the case of solitary predators, like bears, lynx, and cougars for example, that's just for one animal's territory. There's just not enough wild space.

[@deatherutts]

@@WILD__THINGS Problem is people want to not let nature control the outcome instead rancher's and farm's want total control of the situation everything is controlled by nature no matter how human's try to control I win's in the end

[@gregoraszaudaizdaiauskas1765]

​@@WILD__THINGSo right. For example I don't hear anything about idea of bear reintroduction to United Kingdom or lion reintroduction to Greece.

[@bryanfarrell2029]

Great, even more reasons why I need to get to Patagonia. Thanks 😂

[@Eco-Nerd]

Such a cool place! Thanks for watching!

[@laurencekelly5081]

Thank you so much great channel and wonderful to hear the Native Irish voice 😄😄.

[@Eco-Nerd]

@@laurencekelly5081 Thanks Laurence! 😎

[@dawidm08277]

Greetings and thanks for episode 😁 🐴🐆🐅🐎🦬🦌🐂🐃🐈🦣🦏🌿🌳

[@Eco-Nerd]

Hey Dawid! No problem! Thanks for watching 😊 I hope you enjoyed it. I will be making more rewilding videos in future 👌

[@ericklendenh8479]

Just perfect ❤️❤️

[@99BHUVNESHJAIN]

Great job 👏.

[@Eco-Nerd]

@@99BHUVNESHJAIN Thank you 😎

[@MatGTAM]

Love your vids. Some things to note: Caimans, Capybara, and Marsh Deer are not native to Patagonia (perhaps this is being confused with the Pamapas or Pantanal to the warmer north). Additionally the Pleistocene Park has never stated any official intentions to introduce Tigers or Mammoths to the park. The logistics of housing these animals would be far beyond their abilities, as they are actually a rather small, mostly family operation.

[@Eco-Nerd]

@@MatGTAM Hey thanks for the compliment! Yeah, I should've clarified but I was just giving the project an overall name by calling it Rewilding Patagonia. The Tompkins also bought land in the Ibera Wetalnds which is where they are rewilding some jaguars. The Zimov's have said they'd love to have the mammoth and Siberian Tiger. Logistically they are no where near that point of course but 30 years ago they had no animals at all. They like to think big and have said they would welcome mammoths if de-extinction is successful and they've even looked in to the suitability of using Asian Elephants as a proxy on their land (wasn't deemed suitable) and they have said that some day once the herbivore guild is restored that they'd like to have tigers! Thanks for checking out my videos 😊

[@MatGTAM]

​@@Eco-NerdMany thanks for the info lad!

[@Eco-Nerd]

@@MatGTAM no problem! Are you Irish as well by any chance?

[@VTRAQUEVNVMPLVSVLTRA]

Pampas, not "Pamapas".

[@aaaydenwetsell]

6:21 to bad they can't just reintroduce large predators like wolves to that area

[@Eco-Nerd]

Yeah it's a bit of a disaster for the project really! Apparently it's just too small to have a natural breeding population. I often wondered if they could introduce 2 or 3 non breeding wolves as a natural control rather than having to cull so many animals, surely it'd be a more natural solution. Thanks for watching the video 👌

[@aaaydenwetsell]

@@Eco-Nerd your welcome, i just looked up megafauna rewilding on youtube and your video came up and i was curious.

[@Eco-Nerd]

Good to know the channel is turning up in searches! I have another video called 'Can We Rewild the European Serengeti?' which is all about the lost animals of Europe and reintroducing them or proxies for the extinct ones. VICE have a 2 hour documentary about Pleistocene Park which is pretty cool!

[@deinsilverdrac8695]

@@Eco-Nerd Would'nt work. wolves don't attack cattle and horse, and you'll need several pack to actually have any impact as regulation. also actually predators don't kill a lot of prey, even with surplus killing. Their main impact is keeping the herbivore on the move, which would not work in such a small place. I think that taking few doze or hundred of animals to use in other reintroduction site and rewilding project would be the best option. both ecologically and ethically. but the laws and all the paperwork make that solution unlikely and very hard. Most rewilding initiatives struggle to use horses as they are protected by law and have to be cared for, even when the project aim to use them as wild animals

[@Eco-Nerd]

@@deinsilverdrac8695 thanks for watching and thanks for the reply! I'd have to disagree with you on some of that though. Totally agree that introducing a small number of wolves wouldn't be the perfect solution. Wild horses are hunted by wolves in Mongolia. Bison which are larger than Heck Cattle are hunted by wolves in America. Healthy adult cattle and horses are rarely prey for predators but it's the injured, hungry or young animals that would be taken. They'd also be the top scavenger in the project. Horses are used in almost every Rewilding Europe project, their website is pretty cool if you want to have a look! Horses and cattle do have their difficulties though because owners have an obligation of care. You're right though that, it wouldn't fix the problem. I'm just wondering would it be helpful in any way. Would be a good place to relocate some wolves being culled elsewhere too

[@messiahmatrix]

In order to have a ecosystem you need Carnivores, corridors so they herbivores can move around without over grazing, and keystone species that act as a eco engineer of sorts, pooping and spreading seeds and pushing over trees.

[@SWRural-fk2ub]

"Oostvaardersplassen" , This literally means 'East (sea)farers puddles'. 'Oo' in Dutch is pronounced as the 'oa' in toast, not the 'ooh' as in tool.

[@Eco-Nerd]

@@SWRural-fk2ub Cool, thank you! I'll do my best to pronounce it like that in future!

[@marcofearg9956]

Sorry bur there's a mistake about thw rewilding of patagonia, jaguars, capybaras and alligators, have never been there, yoy got confused with ibera's rewilding project

[@Eco-Nerd]

@@marcofearg9956 Thanks for that! Yeah I should've clarified that not all the animals were reintroduced to the same location, Tompkins organization bought lands in Iberà Wetlands and are responsible for the reintroductions there. Maybe I should've called that section "Tompkins Rewilding" or something but I thought Rewilding Patagonia sounded better and the project did start with Patagonia I believe

[@marcofearg9956]

@@Eco-Nerd yes.. that's true, the project started in patagonia

[@Thorns31122]

For Pleistocene park, why would they introduce American bison when they’re not native to Europe, at least the horses and cattle fill the niches of aurochs and Eurasian wild horses? Just genuinely curious 🙂.

[@Eco-Nerd]

@@Thorns31122 Good question! They're not really attempting to introduce only animals that were native, they're just trying to create a guild of herbivores than can recreate the mammoth steppe through a variety of grazing and browsing techniques. Most of the animals actually aren't really native there, Bactrian Camels, Goats, Sheep and Yaks are all non-native too. They're basically just trying to get different herbivores that can survive the cold and that they can get their hands on

[@sarantissporidis391]

They started with European bison but unfortunately only one survived because they couldn't cope with the cold. On the other hand, American bison thrived.

[@Eco-Nerd]

@@sarantissporidis391 They do still want to bring in European Bison. European Bison were one of their first introductions and they just let them run free and didn't help them adapt. They've since changed the way they do things and keep the animals close, giving them a lot of help initially. Learning from their mistakes which is good

[@sarantissporidis391]

@@Eco-Nerd I have been watching the Pleistocene park thing up close for quite a while. I believe it's the largest and most important rewilding project. They have had 3 American bison introductions so far. It seems that they do much better in the Yakutian climate. My opinion is that they should add more animals and more animal species to enhance biodiversity. As we speak they are sailing to an arctic ocean island to capture and relocate musk ox. Their sheer determination and commitment to their cause is astonishing. Unfortunately there's some disturbing news about Colossal backing down on their promise to offer them mammoths due to the war in Ukraine.

[@Eco-Nerd]

@@sarantissporidis391 Yeah I'm fascinated by Pleistocene Park as well. Definitely my favourite project. Yeah, they're able to get their hands on American Bison much easier (though it's still very difficult). They've had issues sourcing European Bison in the past. Yeah that's sad but hopefully (for a million reasons) the war will be over sooner rather than later and that will change. I believe they've lost a lot of their funding as well due to being in Russia. It's really sad as they're doing incredible work

[@jude175]

There was no need to show nature by showing a helpless animal being killed by another animal. Almost 100% of nature doesn't involve deliberate terror and pain so you could have shown nature without showing violence and suffering. I hate cruelty, and saying that it's not cruelty, because it's nature, doesn't make it less cruel. The justification isn't even logical. It's in men's natures to rape and kill (you can blame evolution). That most men don't rape and kill is because of human-directed socialization and laws - not because of nature. Scientists would say that without predators the world would be overrun by herbivores. Science has almost figured out how to prevent death by the manipulation of DNA. No death but chosen death is coming because humans want not to die more than they want anything else on Earth. If science is that good at finding solutions that could never be envisioned even 50 years ago, then science will find a solution to too many herbivores that doesn't use cruelty. In fact, it already has with lab-grown meat which will put an end to cruel factory farming. What the world needs is not aggressive animals (including men), but peaceful animals like herbivores. A common symbol of gentleness is a lamb. Even Jesus was called the Lamb of God, not the Tiger of God.

[@lompeos7388]

Methane is absorbs 30 times more than co2, not 80. but also its concentration is much much less. So even a tripling won’t do more than adding a bit of co2. Get your science straight

[@Eco-Nerd]

Hey, thanks for watching! You're incorrect though, methane has 80 times more warming power than carbon dioxide. There is less methane in the atmosphere though because we produce much more carbon dioxide. Just because there's less of it, doesn't mean it's a less harmful gas. "Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that has more than 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide over the first 20 years after it reaches the atmosphere. Even though CO2 has a longer-lasting effect, methane sets the pace for warming in the near term." EDF.org

[@oneshothunter9877]

@@Eco-Nerd And methane reacts with ozone and becomes Co2. Right? No? Too lazy right now to Google it. 😁

[@erikm8372]

So, with regards to Pleistocene Park, if you watch their videos here on YT (or anywhere), you won’t see them EVER featuring any carnivores, let alone discuss them or MENTION predation as part of a natural, healthy ecosystem. At all. Ever. It ends up looking like a personal fantasy-farm, with a "special focus" on permafrost thawing (and digging up exposed fossils for $$$). Charge some admission, and it’s called Pleistocene Park. And, sure, on all the videos, the creators brag about what they’re "doing", in a very unprofessional and "rugged" manner…I know, it’s a hard job, and they’re dedicated. But they don’t present themselves too incredibly.. then they talk about how they’re restoring the Siberian ground, the permafrost needs to be kept cold, and how important hoofed animals are to that process by simply grazing and stomping with their hooves. I get that. But herbivores are naturally going to attract what…? Carnivores! Ding ding ding! 😂 can’t keep those herds in-check with only human hunters, who pay to hunt the property, most likely. ‘Cause that’s what it ends up looking like, a paid Siberian hunting ranch, with an animal collection loosely based off of mammoth steppe species. But does anyone really want to hunt bactrian camels, Jacob sheep, or ponies…? lol. I dunno. It’s kinda weird… NO talk about how these animals will be controlled naturally, even though these guys are supposedly "restoring" the land. All those herds of muskox, imported American bison (why not European bison?), various ponies/horses, camels, moose, reindeer, and so many hoofed animals… they don’t even mention whether or not any of the local wild wolves, bears, or lynx are drawn to the property, or allowed to prey on them from time to time. Is the property fully secured or is it a truly wild area, being restored? I imagine there is some perimeter, but wolves surely can find a way in. Brown bears are smart. Lynx are stealthy. And some of the intelligent Mustelidae and canids, like foxes, can surely find calves and newborn fawns to pick off. Might be helpful to include the surrounding wild lands in the project, you know? If you’re gonna restore the land, you can’t just have a “mammoth-steppe fantasy farm” of your dreams and call it “Pleistocene Park”.

[@Eco-Nerd]

@@erikm8372 hey that's interesting that you said that. I've specifically heard Sergei say that the herbivore population isn't where they want it (and will take a lot of time to get there) but will some day introduce predators, they'd like to introduce predators that don't have much experience in hunting because the herbivores they have in their project have never met predators. They do have an enclosure but they also have access to much more land around it. They have expanded the enclosure twice already and hope to keep expanding it as the population grows. They only have a little over 100 herbivores and they want millions to recreate the mammoth steppe. If they allowed the lynx, wolves and bears in from the surrounding lands, it would drastically slow that population growth. They've also mentioned that some day when the herbivore guild is restored they'd like to reintroduce Siberian Tigers

[@mnkash2007]

i think its mainly due to having so little herbivores that predators would just very casually decimate the population in under 2 years

[@PredaKing559]

​@@Eco-NerdLions are also suitable for this