AHC: Establish a large predator species in the New World

[leopard9]

Basically have a large preferably charismatic predator species from the Old World such as tigers, lions, leopard, etc and have them established somewhere else in the world as an invasive species. I was inspired to make this post after reading about how Old World Eurasian Boar were brought to the Americas for hunting, escaped and have established themselves as a very successful invasive species.

So how can this happen for a predator species? I'm talking tigers in the Amazon for example. What's likely to happen to the Native species?

 

[unprincipled peter]

jaguars are new world.

Wolves, bears and cougars, indigenous to the new world, fit the mold. Not sure why you need to introduce more large predators.

You'd need a reason to bring in and release a large enough population to enable breeding in the wild.

 

[Paul Spring]

Well, predators like lions and tigers are obviously a big threat to both people and livestock, plus it would probably take a dedicated and expensive program to establish them, so this is kind of unlikely. Maybe if a groups of wealthy aristocrats wants to establish them so they could hunt them? Not likely, but possible.

Don't know enough to say how they would impact the native ecology, other than that as top predators they probably would have a considerable impact.

 

[IamtheEmps]

Humans exist

 

[ennobee]

On another note: Could American buffalos be captured and/or bred for bullfighting? If so, I can imagine some Spanish nobleman with money enough to live out his pipedreams exporting buffalos back to Spain and having them roam semi-feral on his properties...

 

[leopard9]

Maybe leopards get established in North America or Australia? They're renowned for their adaptability and they're a small size so they can hide and be stealthly.

Humans exist

If I could dislike this comment, I would.

 

[IamtheEmps]

If I could dislike this comment, I would.

Well we are apex predators, so I dont see what is wrong about it.

 

[ennobee]

How large do you want them? African black bees have been successfully introduced in the US where they interbred with local populations to form the famous 'killer bees'. Of course one bee is just one bee, but a whole swarm can be pretty large.

 

[leopard9]

On another note: Could American buffalos be captured and/or bred for bullfighting? If so, I can imagine some Spanish nobleman with money enough to live out his pipedreams exporting buffalos back to Spain and having them roam semi-feral on his properties...

Cape buffalos would be a lot more impressive to fight and kill.

 

[ennobee]

Cape buffalos would be a lot more impressive to fight and kill.

Yep... Cape Buffaloes roaming freely in the salt marches of the Provence. Each year the French Gauchos of the Delta get on their horses, round them up and sell the most fearsome of them to the bullrings of Europe...

And then a 100 years later, some cowherd in French Louisiana discovers that 1)The Texas Gulf Coast Between Galveston and Corpus Christi has a landscape and climate comparable to his old home in the Provence and 2) the Spaniards in Mexico are even more crazy about bullfighting then their cousins back in the old world...

 

[Arkenfolm]

Mountain lions, grizzly bears, polar bears, and jaguars not enough?

On another note: Could American buffalos be captured and/or bred for bullfighting? If so, I can imagine some Spanish nobleman with money enough to live out his pipedreams exporting buffalos back to Spain and having them roam semi-feral on his properties...

If you had enough land you could make a herd, but they're very difficult to tame and keep in captivity due to being very susceptible to cattle diseases which in the premodern period is basically a death sentence.

 

[sloreck]

IMHO a savannah predator might do well in the middle of America with prairies and the bison as primary prey. The major predators in North America only nibble around the edges of bison, and the "prairie" large predator might make a go of it. Problem is you need several breeding pairs otherwise genetics will be against you.

 

[The Professor]

How large do you want them? African black bees have been successfully introduced in the US where they interbred with local populations to form the famous 'killer bees'. Of course one bee is just one bee, but a whole swarm can be pretty large.

Notably the honey bees they've bred with also aren't native and threaten local pollinators.

 

[The Gunslinger]

Cape buffalos would be a lot more impressive to fight and kill.

Not until the age of antibiotics. Buffalo get worms when in captivity. They need big areas to roam to prevent this.

 

[Incasaurus]

You could introduce the Komodo Dragon to Miami

 

[leopard9]

IMHO a savannah predator might do well in the middle of America with prairies and the bison as primary prey. The major predators in North America only nibble around the edges of bison, and the "prairie" large predator might make a go of it. Problem is you need several breeding pairs otherwise genetics will be against you.

Could lions become a major predator if given a few breeding prides? And would they displace wolves similar to how Siberian tigers displace wolves?

 

[wadebirdwhistle]

I personally think tigers would make an excellent compliment to the boar problem here in the US.

 

[Lalli]

Hard to see that any reasonable human would bring big cats when they might be dangerous for humans and cattle.

Perhaps if Romans never christianise and are manage to survive in Western Europe so they might introduce lions to Americas as show animals and some of them manage escape. But Romans hardly would allow them live long enough that they could establish themselves to new enviromnent.

Probably only way is on pre-historic era when tigers move to Americas through Beringia Strait. But not sure how plausible this is.

I personally think tigers would make an excellent compliment to the boar problem here in the US.

And when they have eaten boars or can't catch them, next food is one almost hairless ape species.

 

[leopard9]

Hard to see that any reasonable human would bring big cats when they might be dangerous for humans and cattle.

Perhaps if Romans never christianise and are manage to survive in Western Europe so they might introduce lions to Americas as show animals and some of them manage escape. But Romans hardly would allow them live long enough that they could establish themselves to new enviromnent.

Probably only way is on pre-historic era when tigers move to Americas through Beringia Strait. But not sure how plausible this is.

What I'm wondering if a wealthy person imports leopards to be stocked into a range where he and his friends can hunt them at their leisure and some of them eventually escape.

 

[wadebirdwhistle]

Hard to see that any reasonable human would bring big cats when they might be dangerous for humans and cattle.

Perhaps if Romans never christianise and are manage to survive in Western Europe so they might introduce lions to Americas as show animals and some of them manage escape. But Romans hardly would allow them live long enough that they could establish themselves to new enviromnent.

Probably only way is on pre-historic era when tigers move to Americas through Beringia Strait. But not sure how plausible this is.



And when they have eaten boars or can't catch them, next food is one almost hairless ape species.

I don’t know how many of the people commenting in this thread are American or from the American West, but... there is ample room, even today, for tigers in the United States, particularly where boars are concerned. Tigers tend to inhabit riparian woodlands, where they hunt primarily boars across much of their range. A small population of them in the wetlands of the American West after the introduction and establishment of boars would probably do very well, as there remains a great deal of wilderness that is not being used by humans there. They are not just going to eat all of the boars and start preying on people.