The recent ill-advised lockdown that failed to stop the spread of the coronavirus reduced human activity for several months, and the wildlife noticed. Deer and coyote, normally more active at night, began roaming big city streets in broad day light. It doesn’t take long for wilderness to rebound when the presence of humans is diminished or eliminated. The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is now 1 of the greatest nature reserves in the world, thanks to radiation fallout which makes the area an unpopular place for people to reside. Past epidemics have led to the rebound of wilderness. Europeans introduced many infectious diseases to the Americas, resulting in an 80% reduction in Indian populations. Many Europeans then mistakenly believed the Americas had always been a sparsely populated segment of the world. They collectively forgot their own past history with the bubonic plague.
The bubonic plague is believed to have originated in the Gobi Desert, possibly in the gerbil population. Fleas spread the dangerous bacteria (Yersinia pestis) to the Mongolian raiders descended from Ghengis Khan who then carried it to Europe during hostile invasions and through free trade. During 1347 a merchant ship with an 100% infection rate arrived in Venice, Italy and soon the plague spread throughout Europe in fleas carried by rats. People slept on straw mats, crowded together in unsanitary condition, and bubonic plague outbreaks exploded. In addition to being flea-borne the bacteria could be transmitted through the air between people in close contact with each other. The plague is an horrible disease, killing people in 3-4 days, and the victims die in agony–their lymph glands literally burst with toxic bacterial waste and white blood cells. The victims turn black, hence the name “Black Death.” 50% of the population died. Not enough agricultural workers remained alive to harvest the crops, and combined with bad weather from the onset of The Little Ice Age, famine soon followed the plague. Wild animals and wilderness soon took over much of rural Europe.
Bubonic plague, originating in Asia, decimated European populations for 2 centuries and wilderness areas rebounded.
Birch and aspen trees quickly sprouted in abandoned fields that were soon replaced by oak forests with trees that eventually grew 150 feet tall.
Huge oak trees like this grew on abandoned agricultural land following the Black Death.
Grass growing in abandoned grain fields fed herds of wild cattle and horses recently freed from their dead human masters, and these escapees interbred with their wild cousins. Bison expanded their range. Soon birch and aspen forests sprouted in the fields, and moose invaded the new natural areas to feed on the saplings. Brown bears enjoyed the fruits of long neglected orchards. Eventually, oak trees shaded out the birch forests, and they grew to enormous size–the acorns feeding wild boars and roe deer. Lynx and wolves reclaimed land they’d lost in the previous centuries.
The aurochs, the ancestor of modern cows, along with cattle that went feral roamed the European countryside in the years following the Black Death. The Black Death likely delayed the extinction of the aurochs by centuries. They didn’t become extinct until 1527.
Red deer and horse populations increased when human populations decreased.
King Jagiello escaped an outbreak of the plague in 1426 when he retreated to an hunting manor in the Bialowitza woods. No roads or bridges penetrated this vast wilderness. Royalty protected this wilderness for centuries, and today it is just a partial remnant of the post Black Death rebound of nature.
Wolf packs took over when humans disappeared from large areas of Europe.
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