Author: W. Ripple, J. Estes, R. Beschta, C. Wilmers, E. Ritchie, M. Hebblewhite, J. Berger, B. Elmhagen, M. Letnic, M. Nelson, O. Schmitz, D. Smith, A. Wallach, A. Wirsing

Ranges and Numbers of Large Carnivore Species

Compared to historical times, large-carnivore range contractions have been most extensive in Europe, southeastern North America, and western and central Africa. The areas with the highest number of species and with intact large-carnivore guilds are some of the best regions for research and conservation (e.g., southeastern Asia, eastern and southern Africa, and northwestern North America). Northern Eurasia is the region with the most expansive range for a three-species guild (gray wolves, Eurasian lynx, and brown bear). The percent of the total terrestrial land area in each of the eight classes in the map includes 0, 13.3%; 1, 29.1%; 2, 23.5%; 3, 20.5%; 4, 9.1%; 5, 2.8%; 6, 1.1%; 7, 0.4%; 8, 0.1%. Only ~5% of Earth’s land surface currently contains more than four overlapping large-carnivore species

#africa, #asia, #europe, #north_america