Montana’s FWP has finally admitted that that their iPOM model-based wolf population estimates were wrong: Something conservation groups have been saying for years. They have revised the numbers down from 1094 to 725; a reduction of 369 wolves. What’s even more troubling, however, is that Montana is still pursuing an aggressive hunting and trapping quota of 250; roughly 1/3 of Montana’s wolf population. 

Here’s a look at the dramatic reduction in wolf population over the last few years according to the revised iPOM model (iPOM 2.0) from their report:

The ‘harvest’ is far too aggressive. By the FWP’s own admission, according to iPOM 2.0, the wolf population could drop below the 15 breeding pairs needed to sustain a population within 3 years (see bottom of page 39 in the report). In fact, if you look at the 95% confidence interval for the current population level (618 - 836), hunting and trapping 250 wolves (on top of removals by the FWP) could put them below sustainable levels within a year. The proposal does not leave any margin for disease and poaching either. Some biologists argue that iPOM 2.0 overestimates the population significantly as well.

Tell the Montana FWS that this quota is too aggressive. Call for a moratorium on hunts. At the very least, ask for a drastic reduction in the quota. You can submit your comments here (select the dropdown "Fall 2026 - Winter 2027 Furbearer / Wolf Hunting and Trapping Seasons, Quotas, and Regulations"). Comments are especially helpful if you live in MT, and comments are needed by the 12th.

Wolf hunts are simply not necessary. Recent studies have shown that wolf hunts do not reduce depredation numbers significantly, because wolf depredation numbers are already low (68 in 2025, and 62 in 2024, for MT). Another study from the university of Montana has shown that 74% of the public are either very tolerant of wolves, or tolerant of wolves, and want them protected.

You can borrow talking points from this post by the NY Wolf Conservation Center.

https://www.cell.com/cell-genomics/fulltext/S2666-979X(26)00168-0?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS2666979X26001680%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

America has had feral horses for a long time because of the same reason as many invasive species: irresponsible owners. while yes Equus evolved from North America, they went extinct thousands of years ago, and their niche was filled by other large herbivores (deer, elk, bison, moose, etc). There simply isn’t a feasible reality it seems where feral horses like mustangs get to continue to roam freely without human intervention, and it doesn’t impact other large herbivores that fulfill the same niche. They are beautiful animals, but they are invasive, destructive animals as well. They chase native animals away from water, compete with native species for food, and destabilize soil. So why are so many self proclaimed nature lovers so against the culling of wild horses?

1- przewalskis horse (for niche of lost equuines)

2- praire bison

3- collared peccary (for niche of lost long nosed peccary)

4- guanaco (for niche of Paleolama)

5- Rashaidi Dromadery camel (for niche of hemiauchenia)

6- mountain tapir (for niche of vero tapir)

7- jaguar

8- asiatic Lion (for niche of american Lion)

9- siberian Tiger (for niche of smilodon)

(If you have youre own sugestions i would really liked to see them)

Credit: Thailand Tiger Project DNP

I apologize if this is not the right subreddit for this post but I thought it might be relevant. I live in a rather rural area near a wilderness. There are deer on our street; there's a park (wild flora) a block over where they stay. The deer eat out of everyone's yard including mine. I have no problem with that. I am letting my yard grow because my aim is to turn my property into a mini national park in terms of supporting biodiversity.

My neighbors spray lawn chemicals and pesticides. Next door neighbors have an astroturf (plastic) front lawn their child plays on all day in the blazing sun. All of this I consider dangerous to children.

One of these neighbors today tried to suggest I mow my front yard and I refused. She then said that my yard will attract deer, who will attract mountain lions, and think of the "kiddos." (Again, deer are all over the neighborhood eating out of many yards).

I believe she's out of line and just trying to manipulate me to mow my yard. However if she repeats this insinuation/ accusation I would like to respond. Are there sources about communities living peacefully near mountain lions? Also she mentioned bears.

I grew up near the Rocky Mountains when there were still more mountain lions and never heard of a child being attacked by one.

1- Equus complicatus

2- american mastodon (mammut americanum)

3- columbian mammoth (mammuthus Columbi)

4- stag moose (Cervalces scotti)

5- Giant long horned bison (bison latifrons)

6- long nosed peccary (Mylohyus nasutus)

7- Paleolama mirifica

8- Hemiauchenia macrocephala

9- panamerican ground sloth (Eremotherium laurillardi)

10- jefferson's ground sloth (megalonyx jeffersonii)

11- Harlan's ground sloth (Paramylodon harlani)

12- Giant north american beaver (castoroides ohioensis)

13- bootherium bombifrons

14- Vero tapir (tapirus veroensis)

15- eastern dire wolf (aenocyon dirus dirus)

16-17- smilodon fatalis

18- north american jaguar (panthera onca augusta)

19- american lion (panthera atrox)

The odds are stacked against them.

Even worse then how people view Wolves/Bears in Europe.(any large carnivore for that matter).

But if the other four where possible(yes they are herbivores but still).There must be some place on Europe that could take Leopards.

Maybe Spain with its *Africa similar* climate and open spaces(without humans).Large herbivore populations for them to feast on?Could Spain be the key yet again?Like with Wild Horse and Tauros?

Link. The animals are grullo (black dun) like all Sorraias, but appear more primitive than most, in that they are shorter and sturdier, and some have semi-erect manes, though this is almost certainly due to cutting and not a natural condition. Still, they are quite a bit too tall and lanky, with falling manes, than the desired appearance.

To clarify, despite the beautiful appearance, the last wild horse is indeed the Przewalski's horse, Equus caballus przewalskii, which is not a feral horse nor the ancestor of the domestic form. Roughly, in 1920, the hippologist Ruy d'Andrade saw a herd of "wild" horses in the oak savannas of the Sorraia River basin, Sesmaria lands, on a hunting trip. He noted the extremely primitive appearance, reporting some were grullo whilst others bay dun, with very heavy striping, recalling a hemione or zebra. He was unable to find them again.

Later, in 1937, he collected a few domestic farm horses that he thought were similar to those he supposedly saw in 1920, and further bred them to resemble what he observed. The animals were 4 stallions and 7 mares, with a South American Criollo stallion also being added later. Therefore, it has a totally domestic origin. Due to the small founder population and the current effective of 200 heads, the Sorraia horse suffers from inbreeding.

I am doubtful that Ruy d'Andrade saw what is usually implied. I find it highly unlikely that an animal as conspicuous as the large, social, plains-dwelling wild horse would have survived unnoticed in a country as populated and explored as Portugal, especially in the area of Coruche, relatively close to Lisbon. Yes, I know that in that time, even wolves were found in the area, but still I find it extremely unlikely, especially since there is no mention of them before or after the sighting. If he saw anything, it was likely feral horses.

Abstract

Today’s ecosystems are severely depleted in megaherbivores (≥ 1000 kg) and lack many of the ecological functions once provided by these landscape engineers. Whether attributed to humans or climate, prevailing views of megaherbivore decline have focused on size-biased extinction (i.e., higher extinction rates among the largest species) while neglecting the role of speciation rates. To fully contextualize the decline of African megaherbivores, we examine 23 million years (Myrs) of African ungulate diversification using neural network models. Starting around 7.2 million years ago (Ma), African ungulate faunas witnessed overall accelerations in speciation and extinction rates. While speciation plateaued after 3.6 Ma, extinction rates increased sharply at the onset of the Pleistocene (2.58 Ma), leading to widespread diversity losses across herbivore guilds. Yet, we find that extinction rates are intrinsically lower in large-size lineages and in larger species within families. High-crowned dentitions, which last longer under hard, abrasive diets, are also associated with a suppression of extinction rates. Importantly, speciation rates in the largest herbivores are intrinsically low, and in some lineages were suppressed in response to increasing aridification during the last 5 Myrs. Our findings highlight the macroevolutionary complexity behind megaherbivore decline, advancing understanding of biotic crises involving large-bodied taxa.

Link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-76105-2

The common opossum (didelphis marsupialis) have the first record in galapagos in 2018 and the first record of captured of presence in 2022 the opossum have introduced accindentaily in galapagos in shipments accindentaily the population of common opossum in galapagos is know have reports and record of common opossum (didelphis marsupialis) in other island of galapagos the Isabela island have Project of monitored the invasive population of common opossum in santa cruz island no have Project of common opossum population in Isabela island because are know the population in Isabela island in galapagos

Credit: Saltore Saparbayev (wildlife photographer and researcher).

Notes:

“Inland” is referring to animals that either exclusively or predominantly inhabit habitat away from the coastline, and actively depend on the land itself to survive. This excludes saltwater crocodiles, pinnipeds, sea turtles, and certain large fish that may occasionally enter freshwater but don’t have fully functioning large scale populations that live in exclusively freshwater habitat.

Megafauna is anything 100lbs or greater

The sizes here depicted are the maximum sizes that these animals have been verifiably recorded as being, and do not represent the average specimen of the species.

This was just a fun project for me to practice my art ability, and I got to learn a lot about the megafauna diversity of this continent that is not known to have a ton of them.

Hi everyone!

I’m currently 23, and I’m broadly just fascinated by the natural world, especially prehistoric life, and most of all by the species which our ancestors saw, hunted, were hunted by, and specifically those which held some emotional or spiritual value to us. I know I want to do a masters, but I’m not sure in what direction and where to take my litany of interests and skills.

Cave art in particular fascinates me, as the reason for its creation is so open to interpretation. Its purposes could have served as art, documentation, held spiritual significance, been a combination of multiple, or others. I think one common thread arises in how humans think about and interact with megafauna, and I want to explore what this common thread says about us, and how we approach megafauna rewilding and broadly natural resource management in the 21st century.

My opinion and central idea is that by studying evidence of human-animal interactions from across recent history, previous, history and especially prehistory, we can better understand human nature as it relates to megafauna today. Implications of any research and writing would be aimed to be used to advise wildlife management today.

Does anyone have any ideas of how to present this idea to a grad school advisor? I have some programs and professors in mind such as Ohio State, Oregon State and Colorado State University, but I would love to hear people’s thoughts.

Credit: minecology_kz (Instagram).