With a POD of your own choosing, try to prevent the extermination of wolves and bears on the British Isles. They don't need to inhabit every single region, but there should be a healthy and steady leftover population of them living in some areas generally uninteresting for human habitation or economic activities. How can this be done ?
Challenge: Make wolves and bears survive as domestic species on the British Isles
- Thread starter Petike
- Start date
When did wolves and bears thrive on the British Isles and when did they disappear?
Very difficult, I think. "Civilisation rises, lions fall" is the main theme of my favourite book, and it applies equally to large predators in the British Isles.
I think the way to have surviving populations of wolves (bears are very, very difficult to imagine) with a fairly late POD is to somehow avoid the centralisation of Ireland- perhaps have the island partitioned between various small states supported by England, Scotland, and France. The Irish population remains low and backward, and areas of wilderness large enough for wolves to survive remain more or less intact.
Alternatively, you could have the wolf declared a protected animal of kings by someone or other, and make it a capital offence to kill wolves- wolf hunting would be restricted to the royal family. Given the negative connotations wolves have, though, I think that again this is difficult.
I think the way to have surviving populations of wolves (bears are very, very difficult to imagine) with a fairly late POD is to somehow avoid the centralisation of Ireland- perhaps have the island partitioned between various small states supported by England, Scotland, and France. The Irish population remains low and backward, and areas of wilderness large enough for wolves to survive remain more or less intact.
Alternatively, you could have the wolf declared a protected animal of kings by someone or other, and make it a capital offence to kill wolves- wolf hunting would be restricted to the royal family. Given the negative connotations wolves have, though, I think that again this is difficult.
British big predators started going downhill with the Romans, it seems. Lynx and bears were gone by the time of the Norman conquest (probably), while wolves persisted somewhat longer. They seem to have been absent from England and Wales by Tudor times, and in steep decline in Scotland by this point, too. A few scattered populations clung on until about the middle of the eighteenth century in Scotland, a few decades later in Ireland.
That's my understanding, anyway. I'd love to see a proper scientific article about it somewhere.
Actually, I think the OP means domestic in the sense of wild populations native to the island (as opposed to zoos, circuses, exotic pets); not domesticATED, i.e., tame species bred to be symbiotic with humans.
People interested in this topic should find this article to be very interesting.
Thank you. I knew someone would dig up something interesting on this.
From some other sources I've read years ago, wolves went extinct in England around the late 14th century, in Wales at the end of the Middle Ages, and, indeed, they were snuffed out in Scotland in the 17th and 18th century. Bears lived in Ireland as late as the early Middle Ages or so, then became exterminated.
Wolves died off outside of very isolated parts of Wales and Scotland by the last middle ages.
Bears died off sometime between the Roman Occupation and 600 AD. Ironically that bit of info is one of the things that bugged me about Brave
Bears died off sometime between the Roman Occupation and 600 AD. Ironically that bit of info is one of the things that bugged me about Brave
Bears died off sometime between the Roman Occupation and 600 AD. Ironically that bit of info is one of the things that bugged me about Brave
You have a keen eye for details.
So, I take it that a realistic POD (series of them actually) for this challenge would need to occur around 100 to 200 AD, correct?
mojojojo
Gone Fishin'
you might want to check out this thread https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=140818&highlight=wolves+ireland