Den enda baren i stan

I östra Lassen län, på den stora hög enbär kullar gränsen mellan Kalifornien och Nevada, det finns flockar av “vild” hästar, får och nötkreatur. Par för kursen, det enda blommande växt runt var horehound (Marrubium vulgäre). Trots de icke-inhemska floran och (semi)mega-faunan, insekterna var fortfarande hemma. Att vara den enda nektar källa, the small clumps of invasives were packed with thirsty Lycaenidae. In all I netted 6 different species and got some decent shots of 3. It seems like I take a lot of butterfly photos for a moth collector…but it’s hard to pass up such a charismatic group.

But thinking of those horses (ah OK, “mustangs”) has given me a great idea. Ja, horses were once part of the prehistoric American fauna up until about 12,000 för flera år sedan. While the horse family may have evolved on the American plains, they have been long absent. Reintroduction of horses by the Spaniards planted the seeds that would become a staple of American culture. That is why today millions of dollars and tens of thousands of feral horses run wild in CA, NV and Utah. Even less popular are the somewhat clandestine annual culls that must be strictly enforced to keep these large herds healthy. My solution: reintroduce lions. America was once home to the North American lion (Panthera leo atrox), which stood a whopping 25% larger than the African lion and was the largest cat to have ever lived. These must have feasted on horse-tacos and in turn kept the populations stable. And since our feral horses are of Arabian dissent, we may as well introduce the extremely endangered Asiatic lion (Panthera leo persica), that will be well suited to feast on its Persian brethren. If we are conserving “vild” hästar, we might as well do it right (plus, I’d be much more interested in seeing horses if I could see lions too).

Satyrium californica cygnus

Satyrium behrii

Callophyrus gryneus nelsoni