Releasing Animal Herds In The Arctic Can Combat Global Warming, New Study Reveals

A new study revealed that releasing herds of large animals in the Arctic region could help fight the effects of climate change. According to the authors of the study, the presence of herding animals such as bison, horses and reindeer can prevent the melting of permafrost.

The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports. The main concept behind it was inspired that a successful experiment carried out by Russian scientist Sergey Zimov in Chersky, Siberia.

Over 20 years ago, Zimov introduced grazing animals to the snowy town. The purpose of the experiment was to see how their presence would affect permafrost in the region. Permafrost is a frozen layer of soil. Due to the warming climate, chunks of permafrost in certain areas, such as those in the arctic, are beginning to melt.

As they thaw, greenhouse gases that have been buried in frozen soil are released back into the atmosphere, contributing to increasing global temperatures.

In Zimov’s experiment, the presence of grazing animals yielded positive effects for the region, which he named Pleistocene Park.

Taking inspiration from Zimov’s experiment, a group of researchers, created a computer model to analyze the effects of herding animals on the Arctic. According to the researchers, as grazing animals move around in a certain area, they help scatter the snow and compress it into the ground with their hooves.

Based on their model, the researchers learned that by resettling animals in different parts of the world, about 80 percent of permafrost soils could be preserved until 2100. This would have a significant effect on the decline of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

According to the study’s lead author Christian Beer of the University of Hamburg, starting out with a few animals will still have an impact on global cooling.

“Today we have an average of 5 reindeers per square kilometer across the Arctic,” he said according to CBS. “With 15 [reindeer] per square kilometer we could already save 70 percent permafrost according to our calculations.”

“It may be utopian to imaging resettling wild animal herds in all the permafrost regions of the Northern Hemisphere,” he added. “But the results indicate that using fewer animals would still produce a cooling effect.”