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from the luckily-there's-anti-rabies-vaccines dept.
Once-endangered carnivorous mammals such as otters, polecats and pine martens have staged a remarkable comeback in Britain in recent decades, a new review shows.
The study found that – with the exception of wildcats – the status of Britain's native mammalian carnivores (badger, fox, otter, pine marten, polecat, stoat and weasel) has "markedly improved" since the 1960s.
The species have largely "done it for themselves" – recovering once harmful human activities had been stopped or reduced, according to scientists from the University of Exeter, Vincent Wildlife Trust, the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and Scottish Natural Heritage.
Hunting, trapping, control by gamekeepers, use of toxic chemicals and destruction of habitats contributed to the decline of most predatory mammals in the 19th and early 20th Centuries.
The UK population grew from 53 million to 75 million over the same period--perhaps man and wildlife can co-exist.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 26 2019, @01:56AM (5 children)
Decreasing the number of predators increases the number of prey. Increasing the number of prey increases the number of predators that hunt that prey. See Competitive Lotka–Volterra equations.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday February 26 2019, @02:03AM (4 children)
But depressing the economy causes more pressure on wild prey, and humans typically win the competition against animal predators.
The next few years could be interesting.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 26 2019, @02:07AM (2 children)
Humans are predators too.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday February 26 2019, @02:10AM (1 child)
Yes, I too ate an antelope for lunch, fellow human person.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 26 2019, @02:32AM
Did you kill it with your bare hands or did you use a weapon?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 26 2019, @02:35AM
Maybe you should badger Mrs. May about it.