The Importance Of Keeping the Balance Of The Species

(Last Updated On: August 2, 2021)

 

Do not upset nature’s balance, as it will have consequences

 

Have you ever seen a baby wolf? They are quite small and weigh only 1 pound. They can not hear or see. Baby wolves have round heads with small ears. On top of this, they have little or no sense of smell.

Would you hurt such a beautiful and defenseless baby? Would you want anybody to harm such a tiny creature that forms part of creation?

 

 

What the wolf means to Yellowstone Park

There is a very interesting study of the Yellowstone wolf and its surprisingly positive impact on nature in general. When the grey wolf was reintroduced into the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in 1995, Yellowstone Park could only boast of one beaver colony. The sound of a beaver slapping its tail on the water, as a warning to other beavers, would rarely be heard in the park.

Introducing the grey wolf changed that and more. A survey taken in 2011, documents there are now 9 colonies of beavers with this growth trend increasing.

 

 

To understand these changes, one has to go back to the 1930s. That was a sad time because it denotes the extermination of the grey wolf from Yellowstone. When the grey wolf was killed off over one species suffered the consequences. Of course, elk living in the park were happy, because it removed one predator from the list they would have to worry about.

The list of animals that would hunt elk would include bears, cougars, and also sometimes coyotes. But in general, the elk population grew because of less stress and safer feeding grounds. An elk likes to feed on young willow, aspen, and cottonwood plants.

Before the removal of the wolf, elk would be constantly on the move, and their eating habits did not do too much damage. Now with an increasing population and no fear of being in the open, elk herds would inhabit the wetlands and destroy the stream banks by eating the willow saplings, allowing more erosion and physical damage simply by their increased numbers.

Too many elks in one spot would destroy the beaver habitat by over-consumption of the beaver’s food supply and wreck any dams the beavers would build.   Yes, beavers would eat the saplings, but a nibbled tree will make new sprouts. Ultimately, it was the excessive number of elk that made the regenerative cycle impossible.

 

 

The busy constructor

To have a lot of beavers is a good thing. They are great at building dams and ponds. The constructed pond slows the velocity of the stream, allowing saturation of the local groundwater table.  This will raise the water table and soon, cottonwoods will line the stream and their roots will draw more water up from the depths.

The fish living in the streams will find cold and shaded water surrounded by cottonwood and willow trees.

Cool water is a requirement for many fish species to spawn, so an increase in the beaver population will promote better groundwater availability, higher fish populations, an increase in mature trees, and a welcoming habitat for birds of all kinds.

The disappearance of the grey wolf wasn’t the only thing to affect the Yellowstone habitat. Other impacts on the region came from enormous fires like the catastrophic fire of 1988 or the warmer weather. There are several things that can cause a variety of change possibilities. Scientists acknowledge that ecosystems are very complex as everything is related.

Normally scientists report on the diminishing of the species and the resulting changes. In this case, scientists were happy to discover a healing ecosystem resulting from the reintroduction of one key species. When elk are killed by a wolf, it does not only provide food for them, but it also provides a food source for other animals.

The carrion left behind by wolves feeds scavengers like ravens, eagles, magpies, coyotes, and even bears like the grizzly or black bear. When a bear wakes up from his winter sleep, he obviously is hungry as he used up all his fat reserves.

There you can see how important it is to keep this natural balance. There is a place for all species and humans should not interfere. Their actions are upsetting the natural state of order.

 

Some about Bears

All animal babies are cute, a good example is a baby bear. There are 8 bear species worldwide.  Sadly, some bear types have become extinct already.

• Agriotherium
• Ailuropoda microta = dwarf giant panda
• Tremarctos floridanus = Florida spectacled bear
• Ursus arctos californicus = California grizzly bear

 

The menu of a bear

What do bears eat? The black bear mainly eats plants and berries with some insects thrown in for good measure. The black bear is not a strict carnivore but eats meat when it can. (Only the polar bear is a strict carnivore.) The black bear prefers to steal meat from other predators because they normally do not hunt for meat themselves.

Black bears like to steal honey. It is good that they have a thick fur coat, so it protects them from bee stings. When the black bear wakes up from his hibernation, he is starving so he will fill up on young tree shoots and nuts, which he steals from squirrels’ food hiding places. One can call him an opportunist.

 

 

By the way, did you see that amazing film “The Bear”, if not do look it up as it is so interesting?

Being a bear is not all that easy, but you have to admire the perseverance of the cub in this video.

 

 

To think some people want to kill cubs in the den.

Grizzly bears like a varied diet. When possible the Grizzly will hunt deer, elk, moose, and even bison. He is brilliant at fishing trout and salmon from the rivers and tops his menu with wild beans, grass, nuts, and insects. They do not always sleep thru the total winter and some do not sleep at all.

A video on the different bears that exist.

 

 

Keep the balance

Knowing how important it is to keep a balance, why do humans, once again, try to destroy this balance. Destroy it because of utter ignorance.

 

 

I subscribe to the newsletters of Friends of the Earth, and they reported on some awful news again. Reporting recently, the land theft of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by the Trump Administration, and giving priority to gas and oil drilling, now it is happening again. A new proposal will give green light to hunters to kill wolf pups and bear cubs in their dens.

This will destabilize nature in Alaska’s national preserves. As with Bears Ears, where important fossil finds were discovered recently, this proposal is completely out of whack. How on earth can there be a president with no sense of beauty, not wanting to preserve everything Mother Earth offers for our future generations?

Lately, he has come up with a new and awful idea. Here you can read about it. Actually, what can one expect from a human who stubbornly denies Global Warming? Humanity has still a long way to go.

Have a look at the following video on wolves being released into Yellowstone Park.

 

 

Conclusion

What can I do on a personal level?

• First of all, not vote for such destructive leaders.
• Bring such issues to the public’s attention.
• Try to live as organic as possible on my farm, reuse plastics, and separate organic waste from the man-made.
• Think about your water use, water belongs to everybody.

There are a lot of little things we should all do on a daily basis. If done by many, it will have a positive impact on our world.

I recently saw this video, and it made me very sad. The clock is ticking, and it seems we are not aware of it. What will future generations think of our actions? We are destroying their habitat, the habitat of our children and grandchildren.

 

 

Recently, the Grey Wolf was taken off the endangered species list. Not everybody is happy about that.

Before you leave, have a look at Recommendations. It is a special page I made for you with a collection of things you might find interesting.

 

Source: Brodie Farquhar for the My Yellowstone Park website, Wikipedia, and Friends of the Earth

Photo Source: Pixabay

 

It is very sad, so many negative things are happening in our world. Normal people do not take care of the environment and when the leaders of the countries are not a good example either where does that lead to? Perhaps you like to read my post on some other crazy idea.

What do you think of the disgusting idea of this “Leader”?