Pleistocene Park and the Siberian Tiger
Among the more ambitious of Sergei Zimov's ideas is the plan to reintroduce Siberian Tigers. This is perhaps even more ambitious than the plan to clone mammoth DNA and create an Asian elephant/mammoth hybrid.
Siberian tigers are critically endangered. It is the largest tiger species and its primary prey is red deer, though it will also consume roe deer, sika deer, musk deer, moose, goral, lagomorphs, and fish. Several hundred Siberian tigers are held in captivity, and they easily reproduce there. However, they are not successful when born in captivity and then released to the wild. Thus, conservation efforts in the wild are of utmost importance.
Pleistocene Park could potentially play a beneficial role in the Siberian tiger’s protection efforts. There is a buffer zone around the park to put a cushion between humans and the endangered Siberian tiger. The area the Park spans is 40,000 acres, which is a little smaller than the D.C. area. The buffer zone is an astounding 600 km2 (148,000 acres). When asked about the possible human deaths due to Siberian tiger introduction, Zimov replied there indeed would be a few, but far less than how many people die from alcohol consumption.
Siberian Tigers are the closest living relatives to the extinct cave lion which was the top predator in the mammoth steppe ecosystem. As we all know, ecosystems must have a healthy apex predator population to flourish!
Check out Part 2 about other mammals already introduced to Pleistocene Park here!
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:
- Mammoth: Pixabay
- Siberian Tiger: Pixabay
- Siberian Tiger Historic and Current Range: Phylogeography and Genetic Ancestry of Tigers (Panthera tigris)
- Pleistocene Park Panorama: Pleistocenepark.ru