Research: Large wild animals coming

The wolf recently made a re-appearance on Danish soil after having been gone for 200 years. But the wolf is just one of several large, wild animals migrating to Denmark from neighboring countries, claims research from Aarhus University.

“The lynx and the bear are growing immensely in numbers these days. Actually, I don’t think there are any species of large animals in Europe that are not growing in numbers”, says Professor Jens-Christian Svenning to DR News.

The growing numbers of large mammals in Europe are most likely a result of a decrease in hunting. Furthermore, much like beavers and deer, lynx, wild boars and bears can live in all sorts of terrain in Europe.

Elks, wild boar

Although they are all advancing, Denmark probably won’t see the bear and the lynx roaming the streets of Copenhagen anytime soon.

However, the wild boar is already here, often crossing in from the south of Jutland, and the elk is headed North from Eastern Europe via Germany.

“It’s only because we have banned wild boars that they don’t count as official animals in Denmark” says Jens-Christian Svenning.

“And the elks, who are coming from Germany, are great swimmers and strong walkers” he continues, and says that an Elk was recently spotted outside Berlin.

Denmark already have wild horses and the bison ox as part of a project in a protected area.

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