The Northern Siberian Pleistocene Park area is 16 km2 or 6 sq mi
THE PLEISTOCENE PARK —ANIMALS ALREADY PRESENT IN THE PARK—
HERBIVORES:
Reindeer(Rangifer tarandus): Present before the project started (although more are being brought to help simulate Pleistocene conditions). They mainly graze in the southern highlands of the park. This territory is not affected by spring flooding and dominated by larch forests and shrubland. Reindeer rarely visit the flood plain. Besides actively grazing (especially in winter) they browse on willow shrubs, tree moss, and lichens. (Numbers in park in September 2020: 20-30)
Elk/Moose(Alces alces): Present before the project started, although in low numbers. Immigration from neighboring areas is stimulated. Due to poaching the density of moose in the region has substantially decreased in the last 20 years. To increase moose density in the park, special constructions were added to the fence in several places that allow animals outside the fenced area to enter the park, while not allowing them to leave. Besides that wild moose calves are being caught in other regions and transported to the park. It is the largest extant species of the deer family and one of the largest herbivores in the park today. (Numbers in park in September 2020: 5-15)
Yakutian horse (a domestic breed of Horse): The first species to be introduced for the project, they were imported from the surrounding Srednekolymsk region beginning in 1988. Yakutian horses have developed a range of remarkable morphologic, metabolic and physiologic adaptions to the harsh environment of Siberia, including an extremely dense and long winter coat, a compact build, a metabolism adjusted to seasonal needs, and an increased production of antifreezing compounds. In summer they grow very large hooves, which they wear down in winter scraping away snow to get at food. Despite their size, they proved to be dominant over the wisents, who often fled from them. Yakutian horses are purely grazing animals – they eat only grass species and visit the park's forests only during the spring flood. In the spring of 2015, ten more Yakutian horses were acquired to increase genetic diversity. (Numbers in park in September 2020: approximately 40)
Muskox(Ovibos moschatus): Muskoxen arrived at the park in September 2010. They were brought from Wrangel Island (itself repopulated with animals from North America). They are doing well and are now fully grown. Unfortunately only males could be acquired, after an attempt to get both males and females was thwarted during the expedition when a polar bear broke the fence to eat one of them ,and the Zimovs are now urgently looking for females. The introduction of more muskoxen is planned for 2019. (Numbers in park in July 2017: 3 males) A new expedition to go to Wrangel Island was planned to take place in late 2020, but ultimately cancelled due to various delays by the time they had the boats ready, including by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wisent(AKA European bison, Bison bonasus): During the last ice age, wisents were the most cold-adapted of the Bison species and thrived in the glacial grassland-steppe biome. Their dietary needs are very different from the American bison. Year-round 10% of their diet necessarily consists of trees and shrubs, and they will ignore their main forage (grasses, sedges and forbs) in favour of woody forage to reach this quota. Without supplementary feeding in winter, the yearly average may rise to 20% even in countries with mild winters. Five wisents, one adult male and four juvenile females, were introduced in the park in April 2011. The wisents were brought to the park from the Prioksko-Terrasny Nature Reserve near Moscow. The transportation was more complicated and took a longer time than originally thought, but all the animals recovered rapidly after the trip. Unfortunately, the wisents did not sufficiently acclimatize in the first months. They started to moult in November, when temperatures already were down to –30 °C (–35 °F) in Cherskii. The four juveniles died; only the adult bull survived. He is now fully acclimatized. (Numbers in park in September 2020: 1 male)
Domestic yak (Bos mutus grunniens): Ten domestic yaks acquired in Irkutsk Oblast were introduced in Pleistocene Park in June 2017; two calves were born a few days after the arrival. Another calf was born after that. Yaks are adapted to extreme cold, short growing seasons for grazing herbage, and rough grazing conditions with sedges and shrubby plants. Wild yaks once lived in western Beringia.[citation needed] (Numbers in park in September 2020: approximately 8)
Edilbaevskaya sheep (a domestic breed of sheep): 30 domestic sheep acquired in Irkutsk Oblast were introduced in Pleistocene Park in October 2017. The sheep are from a breed that is adapted to the Siberian cold. They belong to the breed group of fat-tailed sheep; their fatty rump evolved to store fat as a reserve for lean seasons, analogous to a camel's humps. (Numbers in park in May 2018: approximately 35)
Kalmykian cattle (A domestic breed of cattle): A population was introduced to the park in October 2018.
Plains bison (Bison bison bison): Twelve yearling plains bison, nine males and three females, were acquired and would have been introduced in the park once the United States’ FAA gave clearance for the flight. The plains bison were bought from the Stevens Village Bison Reserve near Delta Junction in Alaska; as the climate there is comparable to that of Siberia, the young bison were expected to thrive. Plains bison are grazers of grasses and sedges. Unlike wisents, plains bison are almost pure grazers, which will consume other plant material mainly in time of need. While wood bison were the preferred choice of subspecies, they are not easy to acquire; plains bison simply are the subspecies that could be brought to the Park most easily. They got bison from Denmark, from the Ditlevsdal bison farm. The bison began travelling on 7 May, and officially arrived safely in the park on 9 June. (Numbers in park in June 2019: 12)
Non-ungulate herbivores to be found in the park are the
mountain hare (Lepus timidus), the
black-capped marmot (Marmota camtschatica), and the Arctic ground squirrel (Spermophilus parryii), as well as the
muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) and diverse species of
voles.
CARNIVORES:
Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx): Present before the project started. It is an important predator of medium-sized herbivores like hares and roe deer.
Tundra wolf (Canis lupus albus): Despite the original low concentration of ungulates, the area was home to a wolf family already before the project started. This arctic subspecies of the gray wolf is widespread from northern Scandinavia to the Kamchatka Peninsula.
Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus): Present before the project started. Well adapted to living in the arctic environment, its fur changes color with the season: white in winter, brown in summer.
Eurasian brown bear (Ursus arctos arctos): Present before the project started. Currently the largest predator in the region.
Wolverine (Gulo gulo): Present before the project started. A stocky and muscular carnivore, the wolverine is a powerful and versatile predator and scavenger.
Red fox (Vulpes vulpes): Present before the project started. Red foxes are omnivores with a highly varied diet. In the former Soviet Union, up to 300 animals and a few dozen plant species are known to be consumed by them.
Sable(Martes zibellina): Present before the project started.
Stoat(Mustela erminea): Present before the project started.
—ANIMALS BEING CONSIDERED FOR REINTRODUCTION—
HERBIVORES:
Wood bison (Bison bison athabascae): Better adapted to life in the Far North than the plains bison. Mainly a grazer of grasses and sedges, seasonally supplements this diet with other plant material like forbs, lichen, and silverberry and willow leaves. Wet meadows in bottomlands (like the Kolyma river plain) are an important habitat for wood bison. The original plans for the rewilding of Bison had called for the introduction of wood bison as an ecological proxy for the extinct steppe wisent, Bison priscus. These plans did not work out and wisents were acquired instead.
Altai wapiti (Cervus canadensis sibiricus): Had been introduced in April 2011. The wapiti made their way to the park all the way from the mountainous regions of Altai in central southern Siberia. Wapiti are very good jumpers and all six escaped within the first two years. The fence has been strengthened to cope with future introductions.
Wild yak (Bos mutus): Could be brought from the Tibetan Plateau. Along with the bison, horse, and reindeer, the species could contribute to the further proliferation of grasses in the region.
Snow sheep (Ovis nivicola): Immigration from neighboring areas is encouraged. Especially rams may be lured to the park by domestic ewes in rut.
Wild Bactrian camel (Camelus ferus) or Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus): Either of the two-humped camel species could act as a proxy for extinct Pleistocene camel species, whose fossils have been found in areas that once formed part of Beringia. The camel evolved in the high arctic as a large boreal browser; its hump presumably evolved to store fat as a resource for the long winter. Bactrian camels will eat almost anything, preferably any plant material such as grass, shrubs, bark, etc., but in times of need also carrion. In the winter they will dig under snow to get at forage. The wild Bactrian camel is critically endangered and is only found in some few areas of China and Mongolia.
Siberian roe deer(Capreolus pygargus): Immigration from neighboring areas is encouraged.
Saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica): Introduction is in the planning stage. Its presence would be critical for the regulation of poisonous plants in the region that can be digested by the saiga but are harmful to other herbivores. Currently, free saigas can only be found in Russia in the Chyornye Zemli Nature Reserve.
Orenburg fur goat (Capra aegagrus hircus): Introduction is being planned. Its presence is necessary due to their ability to eat anything. Only difficulty with acquiring them is due to them being only found in Orenburg, due to veterinary services not allowing shipping out of that region.
CARNIVORES:
Siberian tiger (Panthera tigris tigris): Introduction planned for a later stage, when herbivores have multiplied. Endangered and reduced to the Primorye region. As the largest feline alive, the Siberian tiger could play a key role in regulating the numbers of the largest herbivores.
—ANIMALS THAT COULD BE PLACED IN THE PARK IF REVIVED FROM EXTINCTION—
Woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius): In January 2011, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported that a team of scientists from Kyoto University were planning to extract DNA from a mammoth carcass preserved in a Russian laboratory and insert it into egg cells of elephants in hope of creating a mammoth embryo. If the experiment succeeded, the calf would be taken to the park along with others to form a wild population. The researchers claimed that their aim was to produce the first mammoth within six years.
Cave lion (Panthera spelaea): The discovery of two well-preserved cubs in the Sakha Republic ignited a project to clone the animal.
Steppe bison (Bison priscus): The discovery of the mummified steppe bison of 9,000 years ago could help people clone the ancient bison species back, even though the steppe bison would not be the first to be "resurrected".
Woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis): Similar reasons of bringing back as the woolly mammoth.
Irish elk (Megaloceros giganteus)
Cave bear (Ursus spelaeus)
