ITHACA, N.Y., Aug. 17 (UPI) -- Cornell University researchers are proposing allowing cheetahs, lions, elephants, camels and other large wild animals to roam parts of North America.
"If we only have 10 minutes to present this idea, people think we're nuts," said Harry Greene, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Cornell. "But if people hear the one-hour version, they realize they haven't thought about this as much as we have."
The scientists advocate establishing vast ecological history parks with large mammals, mostly from Africa, that are close relatives or counterparts to extinct Pleistocene-period animals.
The plan is intended to help revitalize ecosystems that have been compromised by the extinction of many of the continent's large mammals. The researchers say the plan would also offer ecotourism and land-management jobs to help struggling economies in rural U.S. areas of the Great Plains and Southwest.
"Obviously, gaining public acceptance is going to be a huge issue ..." said the paper's lead author, Josh Donlan, a graduate student in Cornell's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. "There are going to have to be some major attitude shifts."
The proposal appears in the latest issue of the journal Nature.
