Researchers from the University of Aarhus (Denmark) have just presented a map that shows, at a glance, the very pernicious effects of the evolutionary success of our species on a striking section of world biodiversity: large mammals. Experts have wondered what would happen if we eliminated the human being in this group of animals and simulated their distribution taking into account factors such as ecology, biogeography and the environment, as can be seen in the map above. The lower map shows the current distribution.
Currently, the only place with a remarkable variety of large mammals is Africa, but if we remove Homo sapiens from the equation, many regions of the planet would share that richness. "Northern Europe is by no means the only place where human impact has reduced the presence of mammals," says Professor Jens-Christian Sevenning, one of the authors of the work. For example, safaris could also be organized to see animals similar to rhinoceros, giraffe or elephant in the present state of Texas or the lands of northern Argentina and southern Brazil.
Therefore, the fauna of the Serengeti or the Kruger National Park has not proliferated because of exceptional geographic or climatic conditions, but because humans have not yet erased it from the map . The pressure there has been less.
The Homo sapiens factor also explains to a great extent that there is a greater abundance of mammals in mountainous habitats , as occurs in Spain with the brown bear, expelled from the lowlands and more populated.
