Conserving large mammals: are they a special case?
Macdonald DW., Boitani L., Dinerstein E., Fritz H., Wrangham R.
Large terrestrial mammals (LTMs) are charismatic and widely valued, and thus potent emblems for conservation. The ecological costs and constraints of being a large mammal in the 21st century create special challenges in their conservation compared to smaller mammalian species. This chapter reviews the conservation problems posed by large body size, among the most important being range collapse-the dramatic reduction in area that LTMs formerly occupied. It probes the reasons why such problems are associated with larger species, and proposes several solutions to increase their chances for persistence and in some cases, lead to recovery of the former range. But while intense threats and slow population growth continue to jeopardize the future of many LTMs, the data reviewed in this chapter also offer hope. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd..