GREAT points. Nothing is going to replace true apex predator presence, and your ideas about the long-term affects of this on a wide-spread basis are intriguing. Another friend was suggesting adding stalking them into the mix — using stealth to try to get very, very close. We wonder if actually touching the animals would give enough of an impression of a ‘near kill’, but that would probably be just as likely to fail in the long run. Funny (or perhaps not funny at all), isn’t it, how we humans are always trying to ‘fix’ nature — something that has worked fine, through massive growth and extinction, for millions and millions of years.

Thanks so much for this awesome and well thought-out commentary, Drew.

One thing we have found over and over with ecology is that unnatural solutions rarely work; they usually have unforeseen negative consequences. For example introducing an invasive predator to predate an invasive pest – the predator itself becomes a nuisance in short order. I fear that intruducing non-hunting “predator” games, if done on a wide enough scale to have any ecological impact, will end up having a negative impact long-term.

That’s not to say that individuals can’t go out and chase deer or rabbits. It’s fun and it’s unlikely to be widespread or concentrated enough to have an impact. But if it did become a widepsread sport it may not work as well as actual hunting and predation.

We’re very curious about what effects it might have. We’ve been doing a bit of searching around to see if we can find someone local who has been monitoring native wildflower and bird populations for a number of years — if a place could be found that already has existing records, we could do an experiment for a few years and see if the plants and birds experience an upswing.

It’s also interesting to note that the predators we have now are pretty ‘wimpy’ (even the wolverine) compared to what our ancestors lived with. This book traces the disappearance of the ‘megafauna’, and observes that when humans arrived on the scene, whether it was Australia or North America or South America, the megafauna soon disappeared. From the predators’ point of view, the scenario you created above might have seemed quite the opposite. Whether it was a sabre-toothed cat, a giant bear that was as fast as a horse, a dire wolf or an American cheetah — as soon as the humans came to North America, all of these fabulous predators soon disappeared, leaving only the smaller (perhaps more elusive?) varieties. Sometimes it seems that even back in the Pleistocene, the predators had more to fear from us than we did from them! =)

Still, it would be a very different world if we had big predators around. A few years ago Rebecca and I were sitting by our stream in the wee hours of morning when along came this trumbling black bear. It was HUGE — the biggest we had ever seen. That year the woods were definitely more exciting, knowing that we shared the forest with such a massive beast. It instilled a certain fear, but also a certain excitement. In truth, we knew we were in much more danger every time we drove our car, but it was still thrilling to know that the bear was out there. Two years later someone poached a huge bear — about 700 pounds, and it was all over the news. We’re sure it was the one we had seen, as it happened only about a mile north of us. After that, the forests seemed strangely lonely.

Thanks for all of your great thoughts — this is a tremendously fascinating subject, and hopefully we’ll get to talk about it in person at some point!

Now go back a few hundred or thousand years to before we removed most of these threats to man. The wild was basically kicking our ass at every turn. Mankind has been trying to beat back nature since we evolved from Lucy. Sleeping in trees etc was probably not too comfortable. So as we became more advanced and were able to kill off our competitors and conquer the land, we have not realized, for the most part have passed the point of balance. I am absolutely all for reintroducing every animal back in the ecosystem, well except the wolverine maybe, in protected areas. There should be vast tracks of protected lands that could support this balance. Alas, humans are like rabbits. We multiply until all the food is gone and we will starve to death. With no predators above us, we are out of balance.

I finally feel asleep.

This book spoke extensively about Yellowstone, and the changes seen during ‘wolf times’ and ‘no-wolf times’. You’re right — it wasn’t just that the wolves affected elk populations — the effects permeated the entire ecosystem. National Geographic did a similar article in their March 2010 issue. It’s fascinating to see the interconnectedness of natural systems, and certainly calls into question management policies that look at only two or three variables. Wisconsin is doing a study right now on wolf population and how it affects deer population, but we were saddened to see that the study seemed to end there, not taking into account the effect that the deer have on forests, fields, and streams, and so on down the line. Hopefully policies will continue on an upswing, taking into account entire ecosystems, instead of only looking at how how a single resource will affect our markets or our desires.

What a success story! It’s amazing how vibrant a well-balanced ecosystem feels — and how wonderful to observe all the interactions between species and environment.

We’re so excited about your timber rattler adventures-to-come! Last year we were able to go searching for timber rattlers on some private property on the Mississippi bluffs — we searched all day, and were lucky enough (and excited!) to hear a single rattle in a pile of stones. We didn’t see any or get any photos, so we’re hoping to go back this year.

Thanks for the vote of confidence regarding our friend, as well. It is so liberating to befriend a species that we once feared.

I am excited about an upcoming project that I am going to be able to help with. My husbands family own a farm in Fillmore, MO. It is 127 acres in the Nodaway River bluffs. This land is home to numerous timber rattlers. A professor at a local university is interested in doing a study on their population. I will get to assist him. I can hardly wait! It should make for some interesting posts.

I hope your friend is encouraged to try and overcome her trepidations where spiders are concerned. If I can anyone can. I look forward to hearing about her progress. There is truth to the saying “In order to overcome your fears you must face them”. I know from experience that is sometimes easier said than done, so I wish your friend confidence, and courage to overcome her fears.