Wild Field (wilderness reserve)

Wild Field (Russian: Дикое поле Dikoe pole) is a 300 ha (740 ac) nature reserve near the city of Tula in Tula Oblast in the European part of Russia, approximately 250 km (150 mi) south of Moscow.[1] It was established in 2012 by Russian scientists Sergey Zimov and Nikita Zimov as a companion to Pleistocene Park in Siberia.[2]

This article is about the Russian nature reserve Wild Field. For other uses of the term “Wild Field”, see Wild Field (disambiguation).
Wild Field
Дикое поле
LocationTula Oblast, Russia
Nearest cityYefremov
Coordinates53°20′54″N 37°57′17″E
Area300 ha
Established2012

Unlike Pleistocene Park, Wild Field’s primary purpose is not scientific research but public outreach, i.e. it will provide a model of what an unregulated steppe ecosystem looked like before the advent of humans.[3] It is situated near a federal road and a railway station and is accessible to the general public.[2]

The reserve

Wild Field comprises 300 ha (740 ac) of which at first 150 ha were fenced off and stocked with animals.[2] In 2017 the fenced area was increased to 280 hectares.[4]

The area of the reserve will be increased to 500 ha in 2018–2019.[5] For the future, plans call for a continuous increase of the area in relation to the increasing population of animals in the reserve.[5]

Animals

Introduced between 2012 and 2015 were

The total number of large herbivores in Wild Field Park numbered around 150 in April 2015.[14]

In 2016, several wild boars (Sus scrofa)[15] and a female elk[BE]/moose[AE] (Alces alces) entered the reserve through special one-way entrances built into the fences.[13] Several young wild boar/domestic pig hybrids (Sus scrofa × domesticus) have also been purchased to be released into the park upon maturing.[13]

In 2017, four reindeer (Rangifer tarandus)[16] and 73 domestic Pridonskaya goats (a strain of Capra aegagrus hircus)[4] were added.

A herd of 20 plains bison (Bison bison bison) which was to be delivered in March 2014 by the True Nature Foundation, a European organization for ecological restoration and rewilding,[6] could not be imported due to a blanket import ban on cattle from countries affected by the Schmallenberg virus.[2]

The introduction of a test group of camels (Camelus spec.[note 2]) is under consideration.[13] Further plans call for the introduction of bison, saiga antelopes, vultures, bobak marmots and speckled ground squirrels.[4][17][18]

Notes
  1. These are the roe deer of the Tula region, which were already present on the site of Wild Field reserve. The species is not certain, as roe deer were absent in much of European Russia throughout the 20th century and only reoccupied the area in the last decades. Judging by the IUCN distribution maps,[9] the roe deer of the Tula region should be European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), with the westernmost extension of the range of the Siberian roe deer (Capreolus pygargus) ending approximately 500 km (300 mi) to the east.
  2. This must be either Camelus ferus or Camelus bactrianus, as Camelus dromedarius is not adapted to the climate of the region.

References
  1. zoologist.ru – Зоологический форум (Zoological forum) (8 December 2013). "Плейстоценовые парки - Pleistocene Parks". Private communication by Nikita Zimov, director of Pleistocene Park, quoted in an online discussion forum. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  2. www.pleistocenepark.ru/en/ – News Oct. 15, 2014: Opening of the new reserve “Wild Field”. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
  3. Eli Kintisch (2015): “Born to rewild. A father and son’s quixotic quest to bring back a lost ecosystem – and save the world.” Science, 4 December 2015, vol. 350, no. 6265, pp. 1148-1151.
  4. Pleistocene Park: “Wild Field 31.05.2017.” Facebook post of 4 June 2017. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
  5. Pleistocene Park: “Wild Field 06/09/2017.” Facebook post of 6 September 2017. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  6. True Nature Foundation (4 March 2014): “Professor Zimov and his team, known from Pleistocene Park, ...” TNF Facebook site. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
  7. www.pleistocenepark.ru/en/ – Wild Field. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
  8. Pleistocene Park: “Wild Field, December 2017.” Facebook post of 14 December 2017. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  9. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Distribution map of Capreolus capreolus, Distribution map of Capreolus pygargus. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
  10. www.pleistocenepark.ru/en/ – Wild Field; slide 245. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
  11. zoologist.ru – Зоологический форум (Zoological forum) (1 November 2014). "Плейстоценовые парки - Pleistocene Parks". Private communication by Nikita Zimov, director of Pleistocene Park, quoted in an online discussion forum. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  12. First Tula Telechannel (31 March 2015). "На территории Воловского района создаётся экспериментальный заповедник". (On the territory of Volovsky district an experimental reserve is created.) TV feature on the Wild Field reserve. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  13. www.pleistocenepark.ru/en/ – News June 19, 2016: Reports from Wild Field. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  14. Jake Kong: Private communication from Zimov. Published on the True Nature Foundation facebook site, 11 April 2015.
  15. Pleistocene Park: “Wild Field has several boars.” Facebook post of 29 April 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  16. Pleistocene Park: “To the wild field were introduced 75 goats and 4 reindeers.” Facebook post of 24 May 2017. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
  17. Pleistocene Park: “Wild Field now has 8 different herbivore species.” Facebook post of 31 January 2017. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  18. Pleistocene Park: “News from the Wild fields 30.08.2017.” Facebook post of 29 August 2017. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
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