At the World Conservation Congress Mongolia has 140 mammals reflecting its continental location and habitat variability but of these, a ‘Big 6’ set of animals have been chosen as the icons for nature restoration efforts but also that they are keystone species that are endangered. Each of the six play a vital role in the Gobi Desert ecosystem. For example, the wild ass or kulan uses its sharp hooves to dig into dry riverbeds creating ‘kulan wells’ sustaining other life; the Mongolian saiga antelopes, moving in large herds, move nutrients around the steppe desert systems through their grazing and droppings. 

What are the Big 6 of Mongolia?

1. Goitered gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa) – at its most northernmost part of their range in Mongolia, this gazelle was critically endangered by the early 2000s down to just 12,000 animals. Conservation action has now increased that to over 90,000.

2. Przewalski horse or takhi (Equss ferus przewalskii) – the world’s last remaining wild horse, this species was extinct in Mongolia but has now been reintroduced with 700 horses now roaming wild again in the Mongolia.

3. Gobi bear (Ursus arctos gobiensis) – one of the world’s rarest mammals with just 50 individuals remaining in the wild.

4. Wild ass or kulan (Equus hemionus) – a critical keystone species of steppe ecosystems once ranging from perhaps as far west as Iberia through the steppes of Europe and Asia. Mongolia has the largest wild population of kulan at 80,000 individuals.

5. Bactrian camel (Camelus ferus) – a true desert animal capable of drinking fresh and saline water, there are now only 700 left in the wild, 80% of which are found in Mongolia and migrate between China and Mongolia.

6. Mongolian saiga (Saiga tatarica mongolica) – a relic species of the steppe that has survived through the last ice age but by 2018 and declined to just 3,000 individuals. Today, the population has recovered to 23,000 animals.

In Mongolia, this identification of the Big 6 can be used for tourism and PR (much as the ‘Big 6’ are used for African safari park PR – which was originally about big game hunting but nowadays it’s cameras that do the shooting). But it is also used to create a framework for the restoration of the Gobi Desert. Ensuring this habitat can support these species provides a single vision impetus for effective nature restoration and, as keystone species, the restoration of those species ranges then maintains and enhances those restoration efforts. Could we translate such thinking to the UK?

So, what would be the British Big 6?

It feels difficult to answer that question such is the degradation of Britain’s wildlife. Our biggest mammals might be red deer – with iconic status in Scotland; badger – a surprisingly big animal but still considered as a mid-sized animal but much loved by the British public and the logo of the Wildlife Trusts; or wild cat – though there is a debate as to whether there are any true, non-hybridized wild cats remaining. Could we consider the otter or the newly returned beaver? Does pine marten get into the list?
 

Well – perhaps, but these are not really equivalent to the Big 6 of Africa or Mongolia and reflect of course the massive degradation of wildlife across our islands as agriculture took hold across the vast majority of the land-surface. If we go back a few hundreds or thousands of years, the picture is very different.

In the Iron Age, bears and wolves were still quite common. Bears had probably been lost by Roman times. Wolves hung on with the last wolves killed during the 1700s. We probably only lost lynx in the late mediaeval period and maybe even later. Go back a few thousand years earlier and we also had a set of big herbivores – auroch (wild cattle), tarpan (wild horse), European elk and probably (though there is no definitive proof) European bison. 

So given the seeming impossibility of returning bears to the UK, perhaps our big six should be:

1. Eurasian grey wolf – not likely to be reintroduced anytime soon (our sheep population is just too high currently) though there are no ecological reasons to stop the return of wolf and in that sense, we might argue that having the wolf on a British big 6 list provides a very long-term vision for our species reintroduction work. Could we ever see a time where people co-exist with wolves, noting that they do already across all the European mainland, mostly quite happily.

2. Lynx – whilst there are only a few areas where we can be confident that a lynx reintroduction would be successful (Galloway, Kielder and Cairngorm) as they are strictly a woodland animal and require extensive woodland cover (and few roads) to thrive, the return of one of Britain’s top predators would be a major step forward for the restoration of nature in the UK. There are two projects underway to reintroduce this beautiful animal – The Missing Lynx Project focusing on Kielder Forest (the project is led by Lifescapes and supported by the Wildlife Trusts) and Lynx to Scotland focussing on the Cairngorms (led by The Big Picture).

3. Auroch-wild cattle – sadly auroch are fully extinct and will never roam our islands again. But their ancestors are everywhere – cattle. For sure our cattle our domesticated and largely lead un-natural lives – often kept in barns, males castrated and fenced into fields but we have some examples of more naturalistic cattle grazing. In Northumberland, the Chillingham herd leads a more of less natural existence. As a proxy for auroch, allowing the more hardy cattle breeds to develop a natural lifestyle is possible and would fill the ecological niche of auroch.

4. Tarpan-wild ponies – again, fully extinct but as with cattle, we have many suitable proxy pony breeds. Indeed, DNA analysis shows that some British breeds have the closest DNA to extinct tarpan, with Exmoor ponies as the closest. We also have many examples of ponies leading more or less wild naturalistic lifestyles on open hills. 

5. European elk – Despite elk having been hunted out of Britain many thousands of years ago, as we restore our river valleys and coastal wetlands, we now have the conditions to return this magnificent animal to our islands. 

6. European bison – There is no fossil evidence that European bison ever inhabited Britain but, that it was abundant in Europe in easy walking distance (for a bison) across the once exposed Dogger Bank, it is inconceivable that European bison were not here. Their bones are very similar to auroch so it may be that fossil bison bones have been confused with auroch. Even if they were not here, in a previous ice-age, there is abundant evidence for the now extinct and very similar steppe bison. Moreover, they are an exceptionally important keystone species as they browse leaves as much as they graze grass. To enjoy this leafy diet, they push over trees creating clearings in the forest and creating the sort of habitat variability that ensures more species are found (diversity) and there are more of them (abundance).

What would the UK need to allow our Big 6 to thrive.

 For a start, a lot more suitable habitat – we would have to deliver on the so called 30x30 ambition (i.e. 30% of land and sea protected and managed for wildlife by 2030) that the UK Government helped to develop (and then forgot to bother with at home) through the Convention of Biological Diversity Global Biodiversity Framework. Second, we would need to ease up on the bureaucracy of species reintroductions. Currently, reintroducing these animals gets us embroiled in domestic animal, zoo and wildlife legislation – it’s a legal mess and it’s understandable that civil servants keep their heads down and play the safe and long game (never quite saying no – but making it super difficult to act). 

The IUCN set out sensible reintroduction guidelines that are there to facilitate rather than block reintroductions – we need a proportionate approach. 

But restoring wildlife is all about hope for a better future. So, for now, let’s dream a bit – what would be your Big-6?