Table Of ContentFrancesco Maria Angelici
Lorenzo Rossi Editors
Problematic
Wildlife II
New Conservation and Management
Challenges in the Human-Wildlife
Interactions
Problematic Wildlife II
Francesco Maria Angelici • Lorenzo Rossi
Editors
Problematic Wildlife II
New Conservation and Management
Challenges in the Human-Wildlife
Interactions
Editors
Francesco Maria Angelici Lorenzo Rossi
FIZV Museo dell'Ecologia di Cesena
Rome, Italy Cesena, FC, Italy
ISBN 978-3-030-42334-6 ISBN 978-3-030-42335-3 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42335-3
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Preface
I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that anybody could
ever want.
–Andy Warhol
The Earth has a skin and that skin has diseases; one of these diseases is
called “man.”
–Friedrich W. Nietzsche
It is with mixed emotions that we present to the readers Problematic Wildlife, Vol.
II. If on one hand we are proud of the work done and the quality of the chapters it
contains, on the other hand, we are worried about the biodiversity increasingly
threatened by human activities.
Indeed, all the qualified referees who judged the contents of this volume in the
editorial proposal phase agreed about the great relevance the topics covered will
have in the next future. This makes us understand that there is much to do regarding
conflicts arising from the interaction between humans and fauna.
Originally, our plan was not a series of volumes, but the opportunity to analyze
some issues not covered in the first book arose in 2016, when we organized the “III
Congresso Nazionale Fauna Problematica” (III Problematic Fauna National
Congress) in Cesena, Italy. The large participation of renowned experts and the
many case studies presented provided us with new ideas to explore in this book.
Compared to the first volume, in addition to birds, mammals, and reptiles, we
have also discussed amphibians.
The general structure is the same as the previous book: the chapters are divided
into thematic parts with a brief introductory chapter.
We had also included chapters that seemed very important to us such as the prob-
lem of deforestation of tropical areas to create rice paddies, intensive oil palm plan-
tations, or climate changes in the polar areas and their repercussions on the fauna.
In some cases, it was not possible to involve the experts we contacted to develop the
topics, while other planned manuscripts have been rejected by our referee system,
because they were not considered suitable for the quality standard of the book.
These are ordinary things that must always be taken into account.
v
vi Preface
Because of that, we greatly thank all the authors and all the specialists who have
read, commented, and improved the manuscripts.
We initially thought we would finish the work earlier. Several papers were ready
in 2018, but unfortunately, some long and complex referee processes have involved
the reviewers, the authors, and ourselves for much longer. So, even if the book
comes out a little later than expected, we hope the authors can forgive us. We all
have worked very hard, with passion and professionalism.
This book is dedicated to some zoologists who have recently passed away: Colin
Groves, world-leading systematic mammologist and primatologist, whose latest
work we are honored to publish here; Bernardino Ragni (he had prepared an incom-
plete manuscript that we could not be able to work out in consistent with the author
objectives), Felidae international expert; and Augusto Vigna Taglianti, one of the
Italian pioneers in the study of “wildlife biology.”
The chapters (including five rejected manuscripts) have been reviewed and
improved by the critical referee processes of the following people: Franco Andreone,
Francesco M. Angelici, Eva V. Baermann, Natale E. Baldaccini, Anke Benten,
Simon A. Black, Andrew Bowkett, Francesca Cini, Longino Contoli Amante, Chris
R. Dickman, Emmanuel Do Linh San, Filippo Favilli, Stefano Filacorda, Arash
Ghoddousi, Spartaco Gippoliti, Fred Kraus, Aritra Kshettry, Harvey B. Lillywhite,
Sandro Lovari, Thomas Madsen, Terry L. Maple, Garry Marvin, L. David Mech,
Alberto Meriggi, Terry A. Messmer, Emiliano Mori, Zjef Pereboom, Robert
N. Reed, David L. Roberts, Lorenzo Rossi, Danilo Russo, Josefina C. Santana,
Valter Trocchi, Sebastian Vetter, Dietmar Zinner, Marco A.L. Zuffi, and four anony-
mous referees.
The English text was improved by Madeleine Cléa Montanari.
We hope that this second book will be as successful as the first one: we really
care that everyone’s efforts are somehow gratified.
But the most important thing is that our work will be useful to students, scien-
tists, professionals, operators in the field of ecology, environmentalists, hunters, and
all the people directly involved in the fields of natural sciences and conservation.
Rome, Italy Francesco M. Angelici
Cesena, Italy Lorenzo Rossi
22 September 2019
Contents
Part I I ntroduction to ‘Problematic Wildlife II’: Problematic
Species Are Increasing, in a World that Is Constantly Changing
1 The Need and Relevance of the Book: Problematic
Wildlife and the Modern World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Francesco Maria Angelici and Lorenzo Rossi
Part II F rom Direct Danger to Humans to Negative Impact
on Human Activities
2 Large Felid Predators and “Man-Eaters”: Can We
Successfully Balance Conservation of Endangered Apex
Predators with the Safety and Needs of Rapidly Expanding
Human Populations?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Suzanne M. Shepherd
3 A Large Carnivore Among People and Livestock:
The Common Leopard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Uzma Khan, Francesco Ferretti, Safdar Ali Shah, and Sandro Lovari
4 Recent Changes in Wolf Habitat Occupancy and Feeding
Habits in Italy: Implications for Conservation
and Reducing Conflict with Humans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Alberto Meriggi, Elisa Torretta, and Olivia Dondina
Part III Urban Wildlife Conflicts Are an Emerging Problem
5 “Good” and “Bad” Urban Wildlife . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Gad Perry, Clint Boal, Robin Verble, and Mark Wallace
6 Wildlife and Traffic: An Inevitable but Not
Unsolvable Problem? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Andreas Seiler and Manisha Bhardwaj
vii
viii Contents
7 The Colonization of the Western Yellow- Legged Gull
(Larus michahellis) in an Italian City: Evolution
and Management of the Phenomenon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Enrico Benussi and Maurizio Fraissinet
Part IV H unting and Ecotourism: Possible Mechanisms
for Conservation and Coexistence?
8 How Hunting and Wildlife Conservation Can Coexist:
Review and Case Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Franco Perco
9 What Do We Know About Wild Boar in Iberia? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Alberto Giménez-Anaya, C. Guillermo Bueno,
Pedro Fernández-Llario, Carlos Fonseca, Ricardo García-González,
Juan Herrero, Carlos Nores, and Carme Rosell
10 Traveling in a Fragile World: The Value of Ecotourism . . . . . . . . . . . 273
Ernesta Martina Esposito, Davide Palumbo, and Pia Lucidi
Part V S pecies Extinction
11 Assessing Presence, Decline, and Extinction
for the Conservation of Difficult-to- Observe Species . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
Simon A. Black
12 Extinct or Perhaps Surviving Relict Populations of Big Cats:
Their Controversial Stories and Implications for Conservation . . . . 393
Lorenzo Rossi, Carmelo Maria Scuzzarella,
and Francesco Maria Angelici
Part VI Z oos, Conservation, and Animal Rights
13 Alternative Facts and Alternative Views: Scientists,
Managers, and Animal Rights Activists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
Gad Perry, Melanie A. Sarge, and Dan Perry
14 Zoos and Conservation in the Anthropocene:
Opportunities and Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451
Jan Robovský, Lubomír Melichar, and Spartaco Gippoliti
15 Problematic Animals in the Zoo: The Issue
of Charismatic Megafauna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485
Geoff Hosey, Vicky Melfi, and Samantha J. Ward
16 Cryptic Problematic Species and Troublesome Taxonomists:
A Tale of the Apennine Bear and the Nile White Rhinoceros . . . . . . . 509
Spartaco Gippoliti and Colin P. Groves
Contents ix
17 Communication and Wildlife Conservation (Grey Wolf
and Brown Bear in Italy) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529
Franco Perco
Part VII Humans and Herpetofauna
18 Snakes, Snakebites, and Humans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561
Gad Perry, Mark Lacy, and Indraneil Das
19 Giant Snake-Human Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581
John C. Murphy
20 Risk Assessment Model for Brown Treesnake Introduction
into the Continental United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603
Samantha S. Kahl, Scott E. Henke, David Britton, and Gad Perry
21 The Asian Toad (Duttaphrynus melanostictus)
in Madagascar: A Report of an Ongoing Invasion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 617
Fulvio Licata, Franco Andreone, Karen Freeman, Sahondra
Rabesihanaka, Eric Robsomanitrandrasana, James T. Reardon,
and Angelica Crottini
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 639
Contributors
Franco Andreone Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali, Torino, Italy
Francesco Maria Angelici Fondazione Italiana per la Zoologia dei Vertebrati
(FIZV), Rome, Italy
Enrico Benussi Studio Immagine Natura, Trieste, Italy
Manisha Bhardwaj Department of Ecology, Grimsö Wildlife Research Station,
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
Simon A. Black Durrell Institute of Conservation & Ecology, University of Kent,
Canterbury, UK
Clint Boal Department of Natural Resource Management, Texas Tech University,
Lubbock, TX, USA
David Britton San Marcos Aquatic Resources Center, U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service, San Marcos, TX, USA
C. Guillermo Bueno Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, Department of
Botany, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
Angelica Crottini CIBIO, Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources,
InBIO, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
Indraneil Das Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation, Universiti
Malaysia Sarawak, Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia
Olivia Dondina Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Ambiente e della Terra, Università
degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
Ernesta Martina Esposito Universita’ degli studi di Teramo, facoltà di Medicina
Veterinaria, Piano d’Accio, Tassarnas Djurklinik, Göteborg, Sweden
Pedro Fernández-Llario Innovación en Gestión de Ungulados SL, Cáceres, Spain
xi
