Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

KnoWanUKnow2 t1_iu4go5a wrote

Reply to comment by [deleted] in Is it possible that only 4 moose imported to Newfoundland in 1904 could produce a viable modern population of 110,000 today? by SlipCritical9595

There were no predators on the island for the moose (outside of the brown black bear, which isn't particularly good at taking down a moose). That helped them to quickly reproduce and spread.

The annual quota for moose hunting in Newfoundland is 27,667 animals, and that quote is about 60% met, which means 16-17 thousand are removed every year. Of note they weren't hunted at all (legally) before 1930.

2

LiquorEmittingDiode t1_iu4iaft wrote

There's actually no brown bears here in Newfoundland either, just black bears and coyotes. Neither of which are particularly good at taking down an adult. There used to be wolves, but Wikipedia tells me they went extinct in 1911 which doesn't leave much room for interaction between the species.

3

KnoWanUKnow2 t1_iu4j5jo wrote

And coyotes only came over in the 1980's, so they didn't affect the founder population at all.

2

LiquorEmittingDiode t1_iu51w0t wrote

I always found that pretty amazing. Coyotes have existed in north america for over a million years and they happened to finally make it to this island just a few decades ago.

1

[deleted] t1_iu4pky5 wrote

[deleted]

−1

Brandon432 t1_iu4ry5w wrote

Ursus arctos is a species properly known as the brown bear. It includes a bunch of subspecies: Himalayan Brown Bear, Atlas Bear (extinct), North American Brown Bear (aka “grizzly”), Kodiak Bear, Eurasian Brown Bear, and others.

“Grizzly” is a colloquial name for two subspecies (if you count the extinct California Grizzly). The species is brown bear. “Brown bears” definitely exist.

5