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Science Library

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July 2024

Horses' efficient digestion creates less methane emissions than other herbivores

Study on the horses of Sable Island, Nova Scotia, conducted by the University of Calgary Faculty of Veterinary Medicine

Horses produce considerably less methane than expected given their size and dry matter intake, when compared to nearly all other mammalian herbivores, thanks to efficient digestion helped by gut microbes.

March 2024

Knepp Rewilding : A Carbon Sequestration Powerhouse

Report by Knepp, Arup and Nattergal on the science behind measuring carbon sequestration for successful rewilding

The rewilding journey of the English degraded farmland being transformed into a lush, wildlife-rich one is captivating. Now for the first time, the carbon impact has been measured and published.

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February 2024

The unique behavioral traits of large mammals matter more than debates about native vs invasive

Research led by Aarhus University, Queensland University, University of Göttingen, University of Pretoria, Rewilding Europe, University of Oxford

Having a higher diversity of large mammals will help control the dominance of one plant species. Read the response from Dr Ross MacPhee here.

February 2024

Wild French horses outperform domestic horses and sheep by building more native wildlife and plants

Research led by Avignon Université and Aix Marseille Université

Horse grazing maintains and promotes grassland diversity, especially when horses are managed ‘as wild’, allowing them to express their natural behavior.

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October 2023

Wild Horses of the Chilcotin: Their History and Future

Book by Wayne McCrory, professional biologist specializing in wild horses, bears and western toads, who has published more than 90 scientific reports on wildlife and conservation.

Wayne McCrory takes us on a journey through the 400-year history of the Tˆsilhqot’in people’s sacred Qiyus (Cayuse). Championing the right of these horses to exist as a natural component of the ecosystem, McCrory illuminates the archaic and outdated thinking and laws that must change.

May 2023

Wildlife Stewardship on Tribal Lands: the first comprehensive resource dedicated to the voices and expertise of Native scholars and wildlife professionals

Book by a hundred Native scholars, wildlife managers, legal experts, and conservationists from dozens of tribes

Defines Traditional Ecological Knowledge. Proposes methods of communication between the Indigenous communities and Western resource managers. Develops cultural anthropology curriculum for youth ethnobotanists.

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March 2023

Western Science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge unite to uncover the deep cultural history of horses in North America

Research led by University of Colorado Boulder, University Paul Sabatier, Oglala Lakota, Pawnee Nation, Comanche Nation, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, and more.

Horses spread across America through Indigenous exchange networks. They were deeply integrated into Native communities, culture and ceremonies before the arrival of 18th-century European observers.

February 2023

Bringing back large, wild animals will help protect our planet

Research led by Yale University, the Global Rewilding Alliance, Utah State University, Aarhus University, and more

African wildebeast and elephants, sea otters, grey wolves, tigers, muskox, whales and bison stabilize the climate and habitats thanks to their natural functions.

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January 2022

Wild horses crossed into Eurasia from North America according to science

Research led by MacMaster University and the American Museum of Natural History

The Bering Strait land bridge allowed horses and other Pleistocene megafauna to migrate to and from continents. Horses that originated in North America were thus able to populate Eurasia.

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Elk Herd Grazing

February 2022

Large animals have the greatest potential to slow the effects of climate change

Research led by the University of Oxford, Aarhus University and the Wildlife Conservation Society

Large mammals support and restore vegetation that stores soil carbon, in large quantities in temperate grasslands. They also attract a diversity of wildlife and habitats, spreading seeds and influencing microclimates.

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December 2021

Born to Rewild: Triumphs of a Now Fearless Woman

Book by Manda Kalimian

Read Manda's breathtaking story of saving the legacy of wild horses in America, where she releases dozens to freedom, makes new friends in the Native American community and travels internationally to raise awareness.

December 2021

New discovery of North American horse and woolly mammoth DNA shows they survived much longer than their supposed extinction 

Research led by MacMaster University and the American Museum of Natural History

DNA collected from soil shows that wild horses have roamed in North America since at least 6,000 years ago, indicating that native people and horses coexisted for thousands of years on the continent. 

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December 2019

Migrating herds influence the "green wave" of grasslands

Research by the Yellowstone Center for Resources, the University of Wyoming, the University of Montana and USGS

The progression of springtime greening of grasslands from low to high elevations/latitudes influences how herbivores migrate. Animals follow a "wave", chasing the freshest vegetation. However, bison also create forage through their migration and grazing. They stimulate plant growth and delay plant maturation, increasing their nutritious intake.

April 2019

Rewilding means bringing back all forms of animal life, inviting natural chaos, and helping animals move freely

Large research consortium Europe and Canada

This study presents a framework for designing and evaluating rewilding plans, including by incorporating people's experience and understanding what constitutes "wild nature".

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January 2019

Grasslands are richer in bumblebees, butterfly and pollinating plants when wild horses graze them

Research led by Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Rewilding interventions with large mammalian herbivores can not only stop, but reverse the loss of native wildlife and habitat by promoting crucial relationships between plants and pollinators in grassland ecosystems.

Wildlife

April 2017

Rewilding is the way to reconcile modern life with humanity's love for nature

Book by George Monbiot

Rewilding is ensuring that wild spaces can be accessed by all; being led by archaeology and paleontology to reintroduce plants and animals that existed before; and protecting large animals and predators and to let nature rewild itself.

November 2018

The fascinating lives and puzzling demise of some of the largest animals on earth

Book by Dr Ross MacPhee

Paleomammalogist Ross D. E. MacPhee explores the factors behind the caused the disappearance of prehistoric behemoths, leaning on genomics and phylogenetic history of megafauna.

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January 2017

America's Great Plains once possessed one of the grandest wildlife spectacles of the world, equaled only by such places as the Serengeti

Book by Dan Flores

American Serengeti shows us the grazers and predators that dominated the plains for the last 20,000 years and their tragic fate the hands of market hunters and ranchers and ultimately a federal killing program in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

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November 2015

Yakutian horse breaks record in its ability to adapt to extreme temperatures of the Arctic

Research led by the Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen

Siberian horses have learned that eating and digesting more slowly reduces their body heat and helps them withstand temperatures of -90F. Incredibly, they enter into a kind of hibernation while standing.

October 2015

Making the scientific case for rewilding

Research led by Aarhus University, Cornell University, Universidade Estadual Paulista, University of Zurich, Duke University, Oxford University and University of Groningen

A synthesis of the scientific basis for rewilding, highlighting trophic cascades as a key concept, critically assessing rewilding projects, systematically reviewing the current literature, and underlining unintentional rewilding and spontaneous wildlife comebacks as underused sources of information.

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July 2014

Our planet is losing its animals

Research led by Stanford University, UC Santa Barbara, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, University College London and  Universidade Estadual Paulista

Among terrestrial vertebrates, 322 species have become extinct since 1500, and populations of the remaining species show 25% average decline in abundance. Invertebrate patterns are equally dire: 67% of monitored populations show 45% mean abundance decline.

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