Bolson Tortoise - Rewilding

Rewilding

The Bolson Tortoise was recently brought to the world's attention when in August 2005 a provocative article on “Pleistocene rewilding” appeared in the journal Nature (Donlan, et al., 2005) proposing that megafauna that went extinct in North America at the close of the Pleistocene (~12,800 years ago) be reintroduced to the continent to create a Pleistocene Park. The Bolson tortoise was the first species proposed for this restoration effort. The tortoise is unique in that, unlike mammoths, sabre-toothed tigers and giant ground sloths, it is not extinct. The Turner Endangered Species Fund, who re-introduced the tortoise to New Mexico, has made it clear that the restoration of the tortoise to the Southwest is an endangered species recovery project and not a “rewilding” project, although elements of rewilding exist.