Lions on the plains would alter order of the food chain

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DENVER -- Lions in your back yard?

Elephants in the driveway?

Cheetahs on the terrace?

Well, maybe, if a group of prominent ecologists gets to establish a "Pleistocene Park" on the Great Plains.

Authors of the plan -- which appears in today's issue of the journal Nature -- say their idea to transplant African wildlife to North America could save many of the animals from extinction.

Josh Donlan, a graduate student at Cornell University and one of the plan's co-authors, concedes that skeptics may worry more about the people on the Great Plains who could become extinct at the mercy of the lions.

"Obviously, gaining public acceptance is going to be a huge issue, especially when you talk about reintroducing predators. There are going to have to be some major attitude shifts. That includes realizing predation is a natural role, and that people are going to have to take precautions."

Nevertheless, the scientists say the relocated animals could restore biodiversity on this continent to a condition closer to what nature was like before humans overran the landscape.

The idea of "rewilding" the Great Plains grew from a retreat at Ladder Ranch near Truth or Consequences, N.M., a 155,550-acre spread owned by media mogul and conservationist Ted Turner.

The ecologists suggest starting with zoo animals. The perimeters of newly created reserves would be fenced. "We aren't backing a truck up to some dump site in the dark and turning lose a bunch of elephants," says Cornell University ecologist Harry W. Greene, another of the plan's authors.