Netherlands tried to recreate prehistoric Europe on reclaimed land

Representative Image of large herbivores grazing in a rewilded wetland reserve (AI-generated image) In the early 1980s, Dutch ecologist Frans Vera introduced Heck cattle, Konik horses and red deer together into the Oostvaardersplassen, a stretch of reclaimed wetland in Flevoland province that had been left undeveloped after failed plans to use it for industry. Vera's idea was that these large grazing animals, left to roam freely without human intervention, would recreate the open landscapes he believed large herbivores had maintained across pre-agricultural Europe, before farming and fencing reshaped the continent. For years, the experiment appeared to be working, drawing rare bird species and international conservation recognition. Then, over a series of increasingly severe winters, culminating in the highly controversial winter of 2017-18, the fundamental flaw in the plan became impossible to ignore, as mortality exceeded 50 per cent in parts of the reserve's large herbivore population.How the Oostvaardersplassen rewilding experiment beganAccording to a peer-reviewed study published in Ecology and Evolution, the herbivore population at Oostvaardersplassen developed after the init...