African/Zoo animals in the US

[nduffy]

So, an interesting thought... What would happen to all those African game animals on all those ranches spread across Texas and the US? Many of these are far enough away from cities that the animals would most likely survive a blast. Texas is also identical to Africa in climate and terrain. So I theorize/ wonder how many species of these would survive and at some point thrive. Many of the antelope species with no natural predators other than man would take off. Also there are rescues for big cats and other predators that are in rural areas. At some point they would either be dispatched or set loose. Lions and tigers and bears Oh My!Just something I have been contemplating. Imagine finding giraffes or wild gazelle as a recon team or realize the critter in your camp is a tiger or running across a pack of lions ... just "food" for thought.....

[StainlessSteelCynic]

While not directly related to TMP, two thoughts come to mind based on what you mentioned.

The first is the scenario Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright for Twilight: 2000, 1st Ed. in Challenge issue 37. In this scenario, the PCs are hired by someone in Florida to hunt & kill some tigers that have been attacking livestock but recently killed a child. The tigers were from some African safari park and escaped during the Twilight War.
So yeah, definitely a problem for anyone, predatory big cats on the loose.

The second thought is of the third movie version of I Am Legend in which Will Smith's character encounters wild animals roaming around the streets. Since the humans have significantly decreased in number, nature is reclaiming the cities and a number of animals escaped the zoos and wildlife parks and survived to populate the places formerly occupied by humans.

This end part of this clip in particular, is what I'm thinking of (the beginning is just out and out stupid shit, screaming around in a muscle car trying to gun down some panicking animals... but the end illustrates the point you are asking about)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHZKSYLAecQ

[knightofrubus]

So, this is one of my favorite thought experiments.

We already have African Black Buck roaming wild in Texas as well as colonies of feral monkey in Florida alongside an abundance of reptiles like Nile Moniter.

With Texas/the Midwest having an abundance of big cats we could in such a scenario see established prides of lion or Tiger ranging northward and East into the forests.

We may also see zoos or sanctuaries turning them loose over killing. So places like Cleveland with their elephant herds may become the start point for new herds that would move South as well feeding on species like Locust, Osage Orange and Kentucky Coffee Tree all native trees that adapted to Mammoths.

If you wanna get in the nitty gritty look into Trophic Restoration/Rewilding as well as the American Serengeti.

[mmartin798]

It is a fun thing to think about. There is always some guesswork, since some of the animals may be more susceptible to some diseases common in the US that are not present or of a different strain in their native habitats. Things like chronic wasting disease and triple-E quickly spring to mind. Then there is the thoughts about a prey animal quickly growing in population because of the lack of predation and crowding out native species, a new apex predator displacing an existing one. It's always interesting to do and doesn't have to be the same for every game.

[knightofrubus]

Very true though there are some trends that we can observe. If we look at the spread of various sizes invasive species we can figure how far they have traveled over time, where they may establish etc.

The real fun is when is when things trigger cascades and alter the very terrain like what hippo are doing in Columbia after being imported by Pablo Escobar. While diseases might be a risk by the time the project rolls out by and large those factors will have culled and stabilized for the most part. Likewise, the US has a lot and I mean a lot of 'niche space' that needs filling. Remember the US lost pretty much all of its large herbivores, predators and ecosystem engineers during the Pleistocene but kept most of the flora suited for them. If we look at ranges for species like elk, bison and wolves we see greatly diminished ranges meaning lots of room to fill them in. And, while the climate may not be suitable everywhere its close enough a lot of species do fine. We have established parrot colonies in Chicago for example.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

In regards to the climate, with the length of time that passes before the teams get activated and are potentially encountering these animals, the climate may very well have shifted to something more favourable to the animals.

Either that or the animals themselves have started evolving to fit in with the climate. A few hundred years gives plenty of time for some of these species to start adapting.
For example, the average lifespan for a lion in the wild is 10-15 years. Even in just one hundred years, that's about six to nine generations.

Looking at what's happened in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, some animals have grown to quite large sizes in a relatively short time because there's no humans to prey on them. The same sort of thing could happen with TMP, very few humans to interfere with the animals coupled with a larger area to grow in, some species could potentially become larger than expected (excluding natural predation).