Earlier today, I talked about land and wildlife differences between Europe and the U.S., prompting a couple of emails which noted (quite correctly!) that Europe still has some wildlife left.
Yes it does!
But the scale is a bit different.
For starters, take a look at the map, above.
Western Europe's population of 400 million people squeezes into an area smaller than that east of the Mississippi river in the U.S.
The resulting population density means there are relatively fewer large unbroken woods in Western Europe where top end predators can live.
Not all is gone, but the scale is different.
Italy, for example, has about 500 wolves in a country of over 116,000 square miles.
Compare that to Minnesota which has a population of about 3,000 wolves in an area of less than 87,000 square miles.
Minnesota, of course, does not just have wolves! In addition to 3,000 wolves, Minnesota has more than 30,000 Black Bear as well as more than 30,000 coyotes, untold numbers of Bobcats, and even a few Mountain Lions.
And so it goes, across the United States.
For example, Florida has somewhere between 1 and 2 million alligators. In addition, the state also has about 3,000 Black Bear, thousands of Coyote and Bobcat, and about 80 Mountain Lion (aka Eastern Cougar).
My own little state of Virginia (#37 in size), has about 15,000 Black Bear, with a population that is growing by about 9% a year despite about 2,200 bear a year which are legally shot during hunting season. In addition, Virginia has pretty sizable coyote population which is growing rapidly despite a bounty program, and a Bobcat population of maybe 20,000.
Of course we are not a western state like Colorado where mountain lion come right into Boulder, or Idaho, which now has a wolf hunting season.
And, of course, there is nowhere else on earth like Alaska, which not only has over 10,000 Wolves, and 100,000 Black Bear, but also has 40,000 Grizzlies, about 1,000 Polar Bear, and unknown, but sizable populations of Lynx, Wolverine, and Coyote.
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bear population in Italy: in Italy it is estimated a total population of about 80-85 brown bears, which according to the latest estimates, 2008 (see below) is expected to increase with new born registered in 2009 and those expected in 2010 .
ReplyDeletehttp://www.parchionline.it/orso-bruno-in-italia.htm
(to translate with google translator)
Some pets will see them only in a cage at the zoo in the future
not to increase population, but political greed.
the real history: the countries were protected by dogs and not by
police
With wild animals is denoted the disappearance of dogs containment.Although this seems very distant reality in 15-20 years ago when, in every country before dropping out of the car, came naturally to control the surroundings, to verify the presence of dogs Sheep (Abruzzese Mastiff *) and dogs touches that emerge happily from every alley, with the ease given by the natural coexistence with the human inhabitants, not necessarily farmers or shepherds.
Mirko
Some personage suggested: killing the bear and wolf population , Says too many bears and too many wolves in the territory!Advertising in anticipation of elections.else: Our head of state is a building contractor.
ReplyDeleteMirko
Quote: "And, of course, there is nowhere else on earth like Alaska, which not only has over 10,000 Wolves, and 100,000 Black Bear, but also has 40,000 Grizzlies, about 1,000 Polar Bear, and unknown, but sizable populations of Lynx, Wolverine, and Coyote."
ReplyDeleteYes, despite Sarah Palin! ;)
That is a very interesting map. Out of curiosity, is the proportion equal? I have always wondered how European countries compared in land size compared to US states.
ReplyDeleteYes. Map lifted, manipulated and added to, starting with the map here >> http://goeurope.about.com/od/europeanmaps/l/bl-country-size-comparison-map.htm
ReplyDeleteP
Really interesting to compare the sizes of some of the European countries to our states. For instance, I was stunned to see Spain was so huge, and interesting that Italy and Florida are so similar in size and shape. Lots of cool stuff here, thanks!
ReplyDeleteSeahorse
I notice your map has excluded most of Finland, which is a fairly large part of Europe. It's okay, we're used to it... not even BBC weather charts on Europe bother to cover Finland.
ReplyDelete