WEBVTT 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 {Lions growling; Birds Chirping} Rewilding means reversing the destruction 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 twist them and splinter them but they still come bounding back. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And why is it that understory trees like bucks and hollys and you are so much 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 tougher than the big trees like oak, and beech, and ash in the forest canopy....... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I think the same answer to both and that is Elephant, does that sound crazy? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm sure it does, but elephants were every where! 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Our ecosystems was dominated by giant straight tusk elephants and if trees 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 could not resist them they would be wiped out. And the Elephants in Britain, that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 were driven out by the ice in the Southern Europe and they persisted there to about 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 forty thousand years ago and so did rhinos and hippos, lions, and hyenas lasted much 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 longer; but they were all eventually wiped out by human hunters. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We live in a shadow lab than in a dim flattened relic of what that once was... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and rewilding offers us this fantastic opportunity to start restoring systems or 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 allowing them to restore themselves. I see it as reintroducing missing plants and 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 animals, then stepping back and letting nature get on with it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 One estimate suggest that between 2000 and 2030, around 30 million hectares of 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 land will be vacated by farmers, and that is an area the side of Poland. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So maybe, we're being a bit unambitious if we're talking about just wolves and lynx 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and bisons, and otters and beavers, which are already spreading fast across Europe. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Perhaps, we should also be thinking about bringing back some of the lost Megafauna. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it seems to me that, REWILDING offer us more than just the restoration of 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the ecosystem; it brings back into our lives a lot of thrill, and wonder and 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 enchantment. And wouldn't it be amazing if everybody had a Serengeti on their 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 doorstep.Rewilding the ecosystem offers us a chance to rewild our own lives as well.