Watch the moment bison were released into UK as part of rewilding project
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ก.ย. 2024
- Four European bison have been released into ancient woodland in south-east England, part of a rewilding project. The aim is to explore the potential benefits such large animals can have on woodland ecosystems.
The release of two calves from Ireland, a bull from Germany and a matriarch that was being held in captivity in Scotland was delayed by three months due to paperwork headaches around wild animal imports, as the UK is no longer a member of the European Union.
New Scientist met the team behind the project including the UK's first Bison rangers.
Learn more ➤ www.newscienti...
Subscribe ➤ bit.ly/NSYTSUBS
Get more from New Scientist:
Official website: bit.ly/NSYTHP
Facebook: bit.ly/NSYTFB
Twitter: bit.ly/NSYTTW
Instagram: bit.ly/NSYTINSTA
LinkedIn: bit.ly/NSYTLIN
About New Scientist:
New Scientist was founded in 1956 for “all those interested in scientific discovery and its social consequences”. Today our website, videos, newsletters, app, podcast and print magazine cover the world’s most important, exciting and entertaining science news as well as asking the big-picture questions about life, the universe, and what it means to be human.
New Scientist
www.newscienti...
Greetings from Africa. This makes my heart so happy. Keep up rewilding this Earth. Great job!
I strongly support rewilding and re-introduction of the native species. I am slightly concerned though if UK has large enough woodland to support European bison. I understand that this is a small, contained population but if they are to breed they will need much larger space....and if they are not allowed to breed then why would you re-introduce them in the first place? Also: UK needs bigger carnivores to control already overpopulated herbivores e.g. deer. Herbivores consume young trees. Thus they prevent forest from growing....
we are reintroducing boars (omnivores) and wolves (carnivores) as well as beavers
@@cyberash3000 I don’t think they’re reintroducing wolves unfortunately, boars and beavers have been reintroduced though I think
@@hmalik5232 havnt you? I have
@@hmalik5232 Wild boar have been here along time estimated to be about 4,000, there's about 400 wild beaver, I'll be very surprised if free roaming wolves are ever allowed in this over crowded island.
@@hmalik5232 then look around more the conversations have been going on for years and we've already reintroduced a population of beavers so ye..........
This whole process is very kool. So glad to see projects like this happening in real time. Those Euro bison are beautiful. Good luck UK! 🦬🦬🦬🦬
They're magnificent! So beautiful. I hope they thrive in their new home.
Vermin spreading foot and mouth disease
Hope they don't gore any old ladies picking mushrooms
@@FrejthKing You see??!
@@guff9567 You Hear??!
@@FrejthKing Yes
Gorgeous animals 💚🐂💚 I hope it works out for them and there is enough land to accommodate such massive units. Well Done to all involved 👏🏻👏🏻
It will disrupt the natural ecosystem and destroy our forests, habitation for other animals etc
Awesome work. Thank you for trying to restore our world.
It's their job. They get paid. They don't need to be thanked because it seems like a job that a lot of people would love to have.
I'm really not trying to sound like a jerk but sometimes you run into people who overuse a word like "hero" or "awesome" or "thank you" and then the word loses it's power of the word itself. My point is that if you thank everyone and everything to see for every action that occurs near you then it probably means you're not actually thankful but you're saying it more because it's habitual. Or maybe you're just trying to make yourself look like you're a good person even though nobody knows you or pays attention so that would just be silly. Sort of like you're commenting just for sake of commenting because maybe you can't help yourself.
So much of the British islands flora and fauna have been decimated. Thank you for doing this effort.
Lol desimates trees
Great, there are always good people who want to help native ecosystems
The people responsible should be sent packing. Isn't this why we voted Brexit ?
This is absolutely fantastic! Let’s get them released up in The Highlands now. Great stuff. 👍🏼
they aren't native though. We should be reintroducing bears and wolves, not bison.
@@alexb7799 And Lynx.
All animals are vermin, spreading diseases and pathogens. Extremely irresponsible
@@alexb7799 they are native, we should reintroduce the Eurasian Lynx, bears, wolves and European Bison
@@hmalik5232 they went extinct naturally so they weren't meant to be here.
If you go down to the woods today you're sure of a big surprise.....
Massive respect for the project, keep up the good work - hopefully one day they will be common place in our woodlands. And how interesting is that technology for measuring vegetative biomass, very cool!
This is great to see, wish more projects like this happens all over. Congratulations guys.
shure shure but lets stop pusy footing with dangerous herbivores and go straight for big predators after all its only farmers and people in rural areas who gona suffer "accidental visits" .
Your welcome. Poland
@Dell Wright love these majestic creatures ❤❤❤
We don't even want them it's a stupid idea
@@truthandfreedom9849 why is it a stupid idea? Bell end
@@dannyhardman8822 cos nobody want to get attacked by wolves or gored by a byson ....... You absolute genius
@@dannyhardman8822 I bet you'll want t-rexs walking around too when they manage that 'cos there used to be t-rex so it's good there back now '
Let me guess you had 4 jabs too ???
😂😂😂😂👍
The Burrells pioneered this approach at their former farm at Knepp. It is great to see how they have inspired so many people. Fantastic. Knepp has finally been allowed to reintroduce beavers.
With the price of everything these will be on the menu soon for poaching.
We need more trees, not less, there will be few to no Ash or Horse Chestnut trees soon due to the current diseases. If you're rewilding properly surely you need top preditors as we are already overun with deer - where are the Wolves? Ask National Trust owned Stourhead House and Estate in Wiltshire what happened to their land when their neighbour introduced wild Boars, it didn't go too well. This is basicaly another World Ecconomic Forum Great Reset ideal which you have fallen for.
Yep the deer are already doing the nibbling. Huge increase in deer numbers in Saddleworth where I live, so many I'm suspicious that they are being released yearly like pheasant are. All fun and games until one comes through your windscreen at fifty mph.
@@flea1683 They're probably rewilding for their hunting trips when us plebs have all been confined to quarters and only allowed out to work, lol.
It sure as hell wouldn't surprise me, .
@@anthonydoyle7370 Yeah we won't need to worry about deer on the road if we don't have a car.
Boar have had great impacts on our ecosystem. They till the soil allowing for new plants and tree growth and help disperse seeds, as well as digging up insects so birds have a good source in winter. And if your so worried about trees, go to one of those big tree planting projects or buy some and plant them yourself, or even better, find a solution to those plant diseases like many people already are
Horse Chestnuts aren‘t even native to most of Europe… They are actually native to just one region - the Balkan Peninsula
I'm not entirely sure what I would do if I came across a wild bison in the future, but I do know I would feel happy for the experience.
Amazing I go to Blean woods all the time , great for the future. Hope we can introduce some more species in the future
maybe some Mammoths and sabre tooth tigers too.
@@FrejthKing mammoths would be unable to survive in our current climate. Scottish wildcats and lynx would do well
@@theotheseaeagle maybe you could import some friendly Australian spiders and Emus ;D
You won't be going there much if you meet angry bison - and the bison will destroy the woodland. I am all for rewilding - but this is insane, very destructive.
@@FrejthKing we already have rheas, we don’t need emus
Is this an experiment (Testing an hypothesis, say) or do you have an expected outcome? Not sure the findings can be unbiased if you are 'hoping' for a specific impact.
Having said that, it looks like a really great project and I really wish you much joy and success.
Natural grazing benefits are something well studied and documented
A hypothesis is an expected outcome. The experiment is meant to prove or disprove a predicted outcome.
Lain, you seem like you might be a little whacky or a few cards short of a deck. No offense.
@@katiekat4457 that is an interesting observation Katie. Could you be specific? what did I say to make you think that?
Thanks
Wiltshire has had Bison for over a decade now.
Introducing more grazing animals seems useless to me unless there are predators to control the population. I would love to see bison in the wild but, just like deer, they would devastate woodlands and other areas.
Large herbivores can be controlled without actually releasing predators. Humans can move these herds. In fact humans can direct herds to areas that need more attention and away from sensitive locations. We can plan the herd movement while wolves or lions wouldn't. In Britain's smaller wildlife areas controlled movements would be wise.
Regulated hunting would be the answer
They are trying to reintroduce lynx and possibly wolves into areas of Scotland. But lynx would be to small to take down such large prey as the largest animals they have been known to kill are female red deer
European bison do not devastate woodlands, it is where they naturally live.
@@ryanedwards805 I don’t think the UK has large area of wildness that would be needed to support wolves, bears etc
These bison are being kept in a fenced in area hardly in the wild
More like a safari park
They should have a 4th test area with bison, longhorned cattle, Exmoor ponies, and iron-aged pigs too...
Some will not be happy until we reintroduce sabre tooth tigers and dinosaurs!
"Oh, give me a home/where the buffalo roam..."
Only they are bison
I live in Europe and didn't even know we had Bison. I thought they were an animal, exclusive to the America's. Interesting.
This makes me very happy! 👍🥰
They can release giant bison, but are too scared of tiny lynxes.
they "released" them in a fucking enclosure, they're not wild.
and yes uk government and hunter/farmers are stupid
Are the Bison native to this country?
I am guessing that the bison will have to recaptured and rotated back to the EU on a regular basis to keep the population healthy, from a breading and genetic point of view? I'm sure they have a plan for this already though. I would be interested to know what the minimum viable population to prevent inbreeding for bison is.
is this private woodland or public woodland? because last i checked bison are easily spooked?
If you are reintroducing Bison it isn't expirmental
We have such a hard time convincing the government here in the United States that our wild horses and bison are good for the ecology of grasslands and many other places. This is a bold move to put bison in the UK. I am sure they will be of benefit!
Four Bison with a big, huge fence around them isn't rewilding, its a science experiment. A ranch in our area has about 30 to 50 on about 200 acres. I haven't noticed much habitat change, but they aren't in a forest.
Hey, I am all for rewilding and conserving as much as we can. But to me this seems OTT for 1) Bison went extinct in UK over 6000 years b.p. and 2) I am sure there are numerous other species with more priority to reintroduce that went extinct since that time... I doubt we have any real idea why they went extinct in the first place or even enough suitable habitat/native flora to even keep a herd healthy in UK to boot.
I say kill all humans are rewild with mastodon & mammoth
It’s important to reintroduce species that went extinct as a result of humans
@@hmalik5232 yes. I know. You did not read what I wrote.
You need an ecosystem that can support them BEFORE you reintroduce them or it is a waste of time & resources.
It's such a stupid idea to bring back bison and wolves !!
Nobody wants to meet a wolf it's so stupid !!
Damn did they bust the fence down and chase the dogs?
Bison being released back into the wild in UK? What wild? We have like 5 metres of it
Awesome, great work❤️🙏
Thank You.
Will wolves be reintroduced in the same area as the bison?
nope, area too small, why would we put them alongside the bison anyway (they're only 4 of them they can't have any predation)
and uk government, hunters and farmers are bastard opposed to wolves
What about humming birds.l?
Great idea in a controlled situation but if you allow to go wild then you need to reintroduce apex predators such as wolves otherwise they will over graze. See the study of the reintroduction of wolves in the Yellowstone national park and the positive effects that had.
So they eat the bark from the Base of the tree and kill the tree is that y we have to control deer in this country squirrels are doing the same and are pests
they also do lot of other potiive things, and grey squirrel are actually way worse at that than bison
This is about as sensible as returning to arable farming using only horse drawn machinery. A fanciful and fashionable “green” fantasy doomed to be dropped as soon as the first rambler or camper is killed or maimed.
Well Sam if rewilding was proposed on the same scale as commercial farming then yea, nuts, but there's room for this kind of approach on the managed ancient woodlands we have left. As for fatalities they ought to be on a much smaller scale than the dog walkers trampled to death every year in arable situations.
@@philt4346
So an increase in fatalities is acceptable?
@@Sam-ch9mn As I understand it ramblers or campers in this area would themselves be in the 'wild' persuasion and caveat emptor to 'em. Enough of their numbers are maimed/killed in their shelters by falling dead wood to nullify death by moose.
@@philt4346 dog walkers trampled to death in an arable situation...by a rampant herd of carrots? 🤣🥕I think trampling is more likely in a dairying or beef farming situation! 🐄😁
@@TheMagwag Includes pasture, arable denotes a mixed regime. Funny image though.
What could possibly go wrong ?
nothing
except some idiot trying to kill the bison or government doing bs again and declaring boar and beaver pest to be exterminated
I love bison but I kinda think these guys just fancied getting a bunch of Bison in the uk and playing with drones…..we are hard at work……honestly….it’s really good for the woodland, honest
I wish them - the Bison and the part staff - well. The rolling in sand looks to me similar to Gnue (wildebeest) behaviour - I watch a Namibian water hole as background 'wallpaper'.
Maybe this park trust could get Dell sponsorship - an upgrade to that laptop would be nice.
I'd have those responsible sent packing. Brexit means Brexit.
They ring bark trees!!
Sounds like that will be great for the tiny bit of woodland UK has got left....genius
The presence of bison would promote native trees such as oak, by creating open woodland areas. Right now woodland areas in the UK are suffering from non-native conifer trees outcompeting the native oaks.
They also help many insect species and provide fertiliser and help many plant species by changing the dynamic in vegetation, creating clrearings and helping colonizer plant to thrive, making the whole habitat more productive, richer and resilient.
no talk of them breeding - will we have baby bison in this project?
This is a huge step towards a better world.
The most amazing part is that you found enough land in the UK where you could let them roam.
When did Bison go extinct in the UK?
Depending on the species of Bison, between 40000 and 6000 years ago.
@@lb540 Gee whizz,I wonder if these Bison will be able to make a go of it as things will have changed much I should imagine in this time frame?
Exciting project ,time will tell how it all goes ,but of course the bison ,population would have to be monitored.
So the bison will eat tree bark & create clear spaces in the woodland areas…..at a time where we are being told we must plant millions more trees to absorb carbon we are introducing a species to reduce tree density in established woodland areas. Does anyone else notice a dichotomy in this reasoning?
Can people just admit that they get exited about introducing big extinct animal species back into the over crowded UK - but it’s OK because this will be in rural areas & not in Hoxton or other trendy metropolitan areas where most of these schemes are cooked up as that is where the majority of the advocates, & funding, for these schemes live?
Go back long enough and Hyenas & large felines lived here too, so how about releasing a few packs of those to wander the streets & markets of London? It’s a logical conclusion of the argument & would help to relieve the over population problems of the capital - it may even help with the current housing shortage & lead to housing becoming more affordable in these areas………much more affordable!
Interesting material, but the background "elevator music" is REALLY annoying.
I'm sure they must have this covered but I can't help but to worry whether they have good water sources. Those giant head's look like they need a lot of water. Plus maybe eating bark makes you thirsty like ketchup does to me?
im happy they have been released back into the uk it will be interesting to see how they interact with the ecosystem
they aren't native to Britain though, we should be reintroducing bears and wolves which are native.
People should be released back into the wild. Not vermin
?
@@guff9567 you contradicted yourself
people are the vermin here.
bison are keystone species and ecosystel engeeneer
Any chance Aurochs can be revived through genetic manipulation?
This is a great initiative.. Just don’t release any big cats otherwise things won’t go well 😄👍🏼
Well I hope it works out but I have a suspicion that even though there are only a few the amount of damage they will do will not be beneficial . People don’t realize how much vegetation one of these animals can get through in one day . These things can eat around 2%-3% of their body weight a day , commutate that over a year and that is 40 tons of vegetation a year per animal .
Oh, those that are doing this know exactly what they are doing. Their goal is destruction of mankind, our removal.
I believe someone allready introducing bears also in the uk.
nope, never happened in the wild or even semi-liberty
dope, more please
When will bison burgers at the roadside stand be available, i tend to avoid roadkill
In these overcrowded little islands with an unsustainable growing human population complete rewilding is impossible. It can only ever be extremely limited. Housing estates versus bison. No contest.
Where they are being released is really nice . Not so many housing estates round there,more orchards that sort of thing. It's nice to have a balance but totally understand your point
@@RedAndWhiteCOYG Thank you. My point is particularly true in England where most of the mass immigration ( a huge can of worms ) is installed. Anyone living in the areas you mention is very lucky.
Yep a controlled system the overlords are playing with to do what they want, over a million scammed their way in UK with help from our treasonous government which adds to housing demand, so their little schemes like this are gimmicks, UK is a chessboard at the public expense
We are in a negative population growth through birth. The only reason why our population grows is because of immigration and illegal immigration. So it can be controlled.
@@williams4434 So many escapist channels on youtube and when you point out the unpalatable truth they jump down your throat. F#ck em.
An awful lot of people paying very expensive mortgages on the back of this box-ticking project.
Of course, English country estates used to take great care of the landscape, but urban socialists decimated estates, then family farmers, to fund wasteful urban projects that suck up billions of ££££ every year.
And in Holland, the communists are planning to decimate farmers with cattle, and seize land for migrants - all part of the global marxist / WEF plan to remove all freedoms, and put in place permanent global tyranny.
I prefer The Great Awakening to The Great Reset.
great, now we are going to have giant horned things in london, not just foxes
Fantastic
The royal herd for Charles to hunt?
Don’t mess with nature.
Sadly, we already did.....
we already have and now we have no apex predators, no non domestic grazers other than deer which we have to artificially reduce the numbers of, and invasive species thats killing native ones, so maybe we should bring back the natural wild UK instead of sticking to our unnatural one 🤷🤣
that's called helping nature, it's the opposite of messing with it
Isabelle Tree!? Let them eat cake!
I love them, They are gorgeous, but don;t you need more forests in the UK?! The whole of the sourth was deforested at one time.
Beautiful 😍
Thanks - this was most informative. I'm interest to find out why bison were chosen, and not a breed more indigenous to the UK such as large deer? Or Is this a replacement for a similar, now extinct, UK species? I assume these animals are sterilized?
Once upon a time they lived in uk and wolves we hunted them all
@@richardgoldins4790 Very interesting. Thanks!
They're not sterilised, the plan is for them to breed!
We had bears and beavers as well
Because they will do maximum damage.
shame we cant have wild bison roaming free even if we had a larger group like the USA do with their bison.
Do you have a question about why a bison disturbing a forest benefits the forest? Please ask. A lot of the principles are scientific and supported by permaculture principles as well. Forests thrive on disturbance, and benefit from providing trees a difficulty in overcompeting the lower levels like shrubs, vines, and soft green understory plants. Undisturbed forests get choked up and can't grow to their full potential. For example, light is so in demand you end up with splindley thin stretching trees with little to no canopy because there's simply no space between individuals. With more open space, more branches can spread and fill with leaves which drop in autumn and help build soil.
There's much more than that, but if you have questions ask!
Do you know about the canopy of a forest?
This is fucking dope.
they have the ability to turn woodlands in to savannah
This is the plan.
nope, they turn the woodland into a more rich and diverse woodland with patch of clearing for pionners species of plants to grow.
GG. Btw I heard leopards and hyenas were once roaming across Europe. Let's bring them back cus these 1 ton animals aren't dangerous enough.
1. nearly no bison weigh 1 tons, thanks to overhunting the species decreased in size, no it's only extremely large individual that can achieve over 1 tons.
2. none of the species you listed here are actually dangerous to humans, even hyena and leopard only represent a minor risk, far less than cattle and dog.
3. yes we should have these back in the continent, it would greatly improve the ecosystems
Reintroduce Jack the Ripper to cut down on the UK's population. 🤔😂😂😂
Where’s the predators!?
Marvellous! Hope they like English food.
eventually you will need to bring in wolves to keep the herd in check
Wolves are not necessary to regulate bison populations. Large herbivores are more regulated by factors such as the amount of food and resources in an area, than they are of predation. This is why large herbivores often migrate in search of food, since they require a lot to support themselves.
1. wolves barely predate bison so nope
2. it would take decade to get a viable population, and even in a century they would still not reach maximum carrying capacity of the habitat, so no need for that
Why the annoying music?
Wont be long before there's no trees there then.
It's not like bison already live in other woodland areas across Europe and don't turn those areas into grasslands...
Great , I know where to go when we are banned from eating meat for net zero , 🍖🍖🍖
Its inspiring to see this. But im also overwhelmed how we still take what we want from the earth , be it rain forest loss, extinction of so many creatures or plain disrepect for whats left, nature reserves this summer were ruined with tons of visitors trash, burnt grassland from lazy BBQs that just 2 bricks under BBQ would stop the burning. So damn sad the average person does this , and with no conscience. 😢
Let them all in,bison,wolves,bears,boat people,let's starve this little island to death if the shit ever hits the fan there will be a lot of cannibalism....once we've ate everything else
Wouldn't have thought the UK would ever be a location for bison. We did a release of wood bison in NW Alberta in the 90s. That is more recent historical bison range.
They seek mankind's eradication.
Awesome, love it.
Raise a billion bison.
The only problem you need key stone species like wolfs as well .
Not really, as large herbivores are more regulated by factors such as the amount of food and resources in an area, than they are of predation. As long as these bison have room and opportunity to migrate in search of food, then it will be fine.
they don't predate bison
they are only 4 bison, you can't regulate a popilation that low
they are in a fenced area
Good hunting boys.
Is this so bugs will be feed to us
Looking forward to crocs being released in the Thames
The Bison will make a great tourist attraction. I'm happy with heard animals being re-introduced. God help us if they ever re-introduce predators like wolves or bears.
Why?god help us why?go on,say it....the wolves will carry our children off into the forest and bears will attack us....sad b*stard.
Well bears and tigers have been proven not to affect the human population just like cats n birds
@@andrewarmstrong8651 mate,he's a drama queen.god forbid .
Having been in forests with all three animals, and knowing various stats, I'd be most worried about bison.
Time to stop know towing to the great god tourism maybe.. these large creatures are the gaurdians of the forest. Hopefully keep people away!
Bison released into an enclosure is not rewilding.
How dangerous are they ??
Not very dangerous as long as you keep your distance and don't make them feel threatened. Basically, don't run at it or sneak up on it and scare it.
less than cow.
of course they're wild animals, but they're not dangerous, as long as you're not stupid and go near them
@@deinsilverdrac8695 Famous last words. 😁
Wolfs next hopefully - for conservation purposes
Interesting, but what does bison meat taste like?
Very nice and healthy as well,not full of hormones.
4 is too small.
As long as we can eat them.