Species Overview & Action

Introduction to LHF's work on species

Large Herbivore species are the subjects of the LHF work. Species in the context of the natural communities, habitats and ecosystems, including regard to the ‘Human Dimensions’. Conservation and restoration of Large Herbivore species in the wild is a focal part of  LHF’ s mission in the bio-geographical working area of the Palaearctic.

Large herbivores, evolved, adapted and specialized to almost all types of ecosystems. From the arctic tundra,  the boreal and deciduous forests, high mountains, arid and cold steppes and dry cold deserts, down to wetlands, warm arid lands and hot deserts; large herbivore species are integral and functional parts of the ecosystem.

Some 130 species of large herbivores (including subspecies) can be found in the different ecosystems of the Palaearctic. A large number of these species is threatened. Some species, like the ancestors of our (worldwide) domestic cattle and horses have gotten extinct over the last few centuries. Some sub-species even died out in recent years. Some are on the brink of extinction, like the wild camel. A sharp decline has occurred over the last 50 years, culminating in the last 10 years, with the political and land use changes, following the end of the Soviet Union. But also, some species were more or less saved and survived, like the Przewalski horse, European bison and Saiga antelope. Conservation and restoration for these species has positive perspective and is now underway, with coordination and support by LHF.
 
For some of the threatened species, the status and situation is known and where possible conservation programs are in place or under development, often with LHF involvement. However, for a high number of endangered species, knowledge is scarce, the situation and status is unclear, or the general and political situation in certain areas makes it very difficult to start conservation work.    

In the ‘LHF Status Report 2007 of the Large Herbivores of the Palaearctic’, a first complete overview (9,43 MB) of the regarding species has been made, but need a permanent update. In this part of the website you'll find permanentely updated factsheets of the circa 45 species in the Eurasian part of the Palaearctic region.

In the mean time the Red List Species web pages of IUCN provide a huge source of knowledge of all red list species, including the less threatened ones. But both websites are different of character and target group and complement each other in goals and targets. To optimally link both websites and make "1+1=3" the LHF website will be focussed on the concrete actions through the development of a project portfolio and fundraising, in close cooperation with IUCN and other relevant organisations.

An important process is the open source discussion that will lead to well accepted descriptions of the species, the ecosystems and the conservation and rehabilitation needs, leading to concrete project proposals and actions, both in the field and in the political arena.

Your comments, input and help are most welcome!

 

 

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