Welcome to
Explodapedia
, the indispensable guide to
everything you need to know!
This series is packed with in-depth knowledge you can trust;
it gives you the tools you need to understand the science
behind the wonders of our world. Read on to learn how
nature can heal our wounded planet in
Rewild
. . .
‘I am in love with this book! It’s joyful, fascinating, galvanising,
beautifully written, accessible . . . it’s an eye-opener and I can’t
wait to share it with all the children I know, and their parents.’
Isabella Tree, author & conservationist
‘Imbued with hope, humour and joy. This is a book that needs
to be read by every school kid, everywhere, and their parents.’
Lee Schofield, author & ecologist
‘
Rewild
is truly magical . . . Young or old, people are going to
love this book.’
Ben Goldsmith, author & environmentalist
‘A must-read for all young people who are interested in the
concept of rewilding and nature recovery.’
Derek Gow, author
‘
Rewild
gives you a real sense of how connected and rich the
diversity of life is, as well as how it’s in peril . . . This book will
inspire and inform the next generation.’
Leif Bersweden, writer, botanist, science communicator
BM: To Beda. Thank you for rewilding our lives.
May your generation – and those to come – find ways
to thrive amid a wilder future. x
MA: For Connor and Spencer, finally released into the wild.
EXPLODAPEDIA: REWILD
First published in 2024
by David Fickling Books, 31 Beaumont Street, Oxford, OX1 2NP
This ebook edition first published in 2024
All rights reserved
Text © BEN MARTYNOGA, 2024
Illustrations © MOOSE ALLAIN, 2024
The right of Ben Martynoga and Moose Allain to be identified as the author
and illustrator of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, trans-
ferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way
except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under
the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted
by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text
may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those
responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
ISBN 978–1–78845–278–6
Italic type is used in
Explodapedia
to highlight words that are defined
in the glossary when they first appear, to show quoted material and
the names of published works. Bold type is used for emphasis.
Contents
Nature Is Determined
7
Chapter 1: The Animal that Thought It Ruled the World
17
Chapter 2: Why Our World is Green
33
Chapter 3: The Wolves that Grew Trees
and Healed Rivers
49
Chapter 4: Into the Wild Wood
61
Chapter 5: Why You Should Give a Dam About Beavers
78
Chapter 6: Whales Are Climate Warriors
91
Chapter 7: Can We Raise Woolly Mammoths
from the Dead?
104
Chapter 8: How to Feed the World
116
Chapter 9: How You Can Help the Wild
132
Can We End the Anthropocene?
142
Our Rewilding Planet – in the Year 2050
147
Glossary
151
Index
156
Acknowledgements
159
About the Author and Illustrator
160
6
7
Nature Is Determined
Did you see that weed growing from the crack in the pavement?
Or the freckled butterfly next to the trainline?
Did you spot the falcon nesting high up on that skyscraper?
Or brush against the moss under the bridge?
And did you notice the trees springing up on the
abandoned building site?
Nature doesn’t wait for an invitation. It has a habit of just
arriving, whether we like it or not.
Some farmers’ fields provide an all-you-can-eat buffet for
mice, songbirds – and the odd swarm of locusts. And all sorts
of smaller ‘pests’ – ants, moths, flies, cockroaches and moulds –
pop up unprompted inside our homes. Meanwhile, larger
creatures make their presence felt on city streets across the
globe . . .
What does ‘private’ even mean?
We did.
The
fungus
.
That you hardly notice.
Though we’re all around you.
8
In recent years, leopards have even been seen loping through
parts of Mumbai, India, and in the UK, after dark, foxes throw
parties in London gardens.
Nature has zero respect for private property.
Eh? A
fungal mycelium
. . . that can talk . . .?
A mycelium. It’s basically a sprawling, branching, tangling,
constantly changing network of tiny tubes. Each tube is a
chain made up of thousands of microscopic fungus
cells
.
Lots of
fungi
live this way; only some of them ever grow the
structures we call mushrooms and toadstools. You often can’t
tell where one fungus’s mycelium ends and another begins.
A fungal what?
Who . . . said that?
And we weave our way around the Earth . . .
. . . through forests and grasslands.
Over hills . . .
. . . across your
fruit bowl.
9
The wild creatures that surround us come in an eye-
wateringly massive variety of living forms, from the tiniest
bacteria
to wasps, tree frogs, jellyfish, cacti, fruit bats, toadstools
and corals to the tallest redwood trees, and everything else
in between. Biologists call these and all other living things
biodiversity
, which literally means ‘variety of life’. Our planet’s
biodiversity is unimaginably enormous: there may be up to a
trillion different
species
out there, no one knows for sure. But
each one has found its own unique way to hang on to life and,
when it gets a chance, to
flourish
.
Don’t be fooled though. Despite the amazing determination
of wild things, and the stupendous range of species, all is not
well with our planet’s biodiversity.
N
ATURE
IN
P
ERIL
Species go
extinct
all the time. They always have; they always will.
But the awful truth is that today, extinctions are happening at
a terrifying rate. In some parts of the world so many species
of plant, animal, fungus and
microbe
are
disappearing
that
landscapes and seas that once thrummed with wildlife are
falling eerily still and silent.
The last time Earth’s biodiversity shrank so quickly was
66 million years ago, when a gigantic meteorite slammed into
our planet, snuffing out the dinosaurs and 75% of all other
species.
*
We’re not quite at that point yet – thank goodness
– but we need to act now, before too many other life forms
vanish for ever.
*
Apart from the dinosaurs we now call ‘birds’ (see
Explodapedia: Evolution
).
Where did all the bees go?
What happened to all the fish?
But
why
are all these creatures disappearing?
It’s all down to you lot.
You’re the
meteorite now.
Sadly, our fungal friend is basically right. For centuries,
most people have been so focused on our own needs, that
we’ve scarcely noticed the harm all our human activities have
been doing to the rest of the living world. The reality is, we’re
in the middle of a
biodiversity crisis
.
W
E
N
EED
N
ATURE
Extinctions are sad. But do we really
need
all
these different life forms?
Well, you’d be a bit stuck
without us. We only:
Grow your food . . .
make your oxygen . . .
purify your water . . .
churn out your medicines . . .
encourage rain to fall
on your fields . . .
shelter you from storms . . .
stop floods . . .
soak up pollution . . .
break down your waste . . .
and stabilize the planet’s
entire climate.
Oh! So basically
EVERYTHING that
keeps us alive?
Yup. You need
us
way more
than we need
you
.
11
12
Wow. Fungi really
do all that?
We-ell, it’s not
just us!
We work
alongside all
kinds of other
living things.
Sunlight
Sunlight makes seaweed grow
Sea snail eats
seaweed
Starfish
eats sea snail
Waves refresh the
water and dislodge
unsuspecting inhabitants
They sure do. As you might know, biologists call the
communities of plants, animals, fungi and other forms of life
that exist in a particular place an
ecosystem
. Ecosystems are
made up of both
living
parts (e.g. plants, animals and bacteria)
and
non-living
parts (e.g. water, rock, weather conditions). All
the different parts of an ecosystem are connected. So if one
part changes – e.g. a storm blows in or an animal goes extinct –
that change can affect
everything else
in the ecosystem.
The living species in a healthy ecosystem have often been
evolving alongside each other for millions of years. Despite all
the eating – and being eaten – that goes on, they fit together
like the pieces of a beautiful puzzle.
Ecosystems can be very small, like a tide pool at the seaside:
13
Sun makes cloud
of
algae
grow
Wind
Cloud of algae
Shoal of small fish eat algae
Tuna
eats small fish
Great white shark
eats tuna
Ocean currents
move warm water,
living things and
nutrients around
the ocean
But we can’t carry
on supporting you
if our ecosystems
keep losing their
star players.
OK. This is dead serious.
What can humans do?
And together, ecosystems have awesomely powerful effects
on entire environments. We’ll see, as we read on, how they
basically act as a life-support system – for us and for all other
living things.
We can
rewild
as much of the world as possible. That’s
what this book is all about. It means getting better at living
Or very large, like an entire ocean:
*
*
Large ecosystems are sometimes called ‘biomes’, they often contain many smaller ecosystems.
alongside nature and, where appropriate, backing right off and
letting
natural processes
take control. Because, when we let it,
nature comes roaring back.
A H
ALF
-W
ILD
W
ORLD
Well, we don’t have to give it
all
back.
Rewilding
is about
mending our broken relationship with nature – remembering
that we are
part
of nature, that we
need
nature.
How much to rewild is definitely up for debate. But in
2016, one of the world’s leading biologists, Edward O. Wilson,
hatched a daring plan. He called it the ‘Half-Earth Project’:
In other words, he reckoned we should confine all our
building, farming and other human-focused activities to, at
14
Trust us! Sometimes, we
wild things know best.
I propose that only by committing
half
of the planet’s surface to nature
can we hope to save the immensity
of life forms that compose it.
But what will happen to our towns, cities and
farms if we let everything go back to nature?
15
most, 50% of Earth’s surface. And that would mean putting
the other 50% back into the capable hands (not to mention
paws, roots, wings, fins and tendrils) of nature.
If we did that, Wilson calculated, we’d protect
85%
of
Earth’s species from extinction.
We’re a
long
way from hitting that goal though. In 2023,
less than
17%
of the planet’s total surface (land, freshwater, ice
and ocean) was officially protected for nature.
*
The trouble is, as well as the biodiversity crisis, we’re
wrestling with the equally terrifying
climate crisis
. As our planet
gets hotter, weather systems are becoming increasingly violent
and unpredictable. Wildfires,
droughts
, storms and rising
water temperatures are hammering ecosystems, making the
biodiversity crisis worse.
But here’s the thing: since natural ecosystems – from jungles
to
peatlands
to seaweed forests to frozen Arctic
tundra
– help
to keep the climate stable, if the biodiversity crisis gets worse,
*
And simply saying a site is ‘protected’ isn’t enough – to actually help wildlife, rules must be enforced
and, often, work done to improve habitats.
16
the climate crisis will too. If we don’t do something – and
quickly – both crises will spiral out of control.
We certainly will. But the good news about rewilding is that
it’s part of the solution to the climate crisis too.
Actually, rewilding projects are already underway all over
the world. We’re about to get to know some of the scientists,
conservationists, local communities and, most importantly,
other species that are doing their utmost to usher
life
back into our wounded world. Plus, we’ll look at some of the
ways these efforts to rewild will help
you
and how
you
can help
them
.
But first of all, we’ve got to face up to some dark realities . . .
Then you’ll really be in a mess.
So, let’s get on with it!
17
CHAPTER 1
The Animal that Thought It Ruled the World
H
OW
W
E
G
OT
INTO
THIS
M
ESS
Rewilding is all about healing our damaged world by boosting
the biodiversity and
abundance
of its living species. But, before
we can find out how the solutions work, we need to understand
the problems. This chapter’s not going to be an easy read, but
stick with it, because knowing all the challenges the world
is facing actually gives us an amazing opportunity. If we can
welcome enough of the wild back into our landscapes, our
oceans and our day-to-day lives, we’ll be the first generation of
humans ever to have
attempted
to leave the planet in a better
state than it was when we arrived.
I want to be part of that! So –
deep breath – tell it like it is.
T
HE
R
ELENTLESS
R
ISE
OF
THE
H
UMAN
In 2021, builders on a new housing estate near Plymouth,
south-west England, unearthed a hidden cave. Inside were the
remains of woolly mammoths, reindeer, wolves, hyenas and
woolly rhinoceroses – animals that are either long extinct, or
haven’t lived in Britain for centuries. These bones give us a way
of seeing Britain as it must have been around 40,000 years ago,
during the last Ice Age.
A human jawbone found in a nearby cave shows that
during the same period, modern humans (i.e.
Homo sapiens
)
were reaching Britain for the very first time. By that point our
species had already existed for about 250,000 years, but for
most of that time our ancestors had all lived in Africa. So,
40,000 years ago, intrepid bands of
hunter-gatherers
were on the
move, gradually occupying the rest of the world.
Compared with the way you live today, life was
unrecognizably different for your ancestors 1,500 generations
ago. On every continent, temperatures were typically five or six
degrees Celsius
colder
than today’s, and ice, up to a mile thick,
covered huge parts of the globe. As sliding glaciers scoured the
rocks, they stirred up clouds of rock dust that dimmed the sun
and fell in drifts across the wintry landscapes.
In short, life was tough. And humans were just another
kind of fairly insignificant animal.
Exactly. It was a far wilder age, and your human ancestors
would never have doubted that they were
part of nature
. At
any moment, a blizzard, a
cave lion
or even a small infected
cut could have brought life to an abrupt end. As a result, the
human population of the entire planet was about the same as
that of a large town today.
But, against the odds, humans clung on and,
eventually, the population started to grow. By
pooling ideas, controlling fire and inventing more
effective tools and weapons, they began to clear
patches of forest and have a bigger impact on the
wildlife around them.
Then, around 11,000 years ago, the Ice Age
finally ended. As the climate became less harsh,
some groups of people started to farm, burning
and hacking their way through more forest to
create their fields. Eventually, around 9,000 years
ago, the global population swelled to around 10
million (the same as Portugal today), and the first
cities appeared.
20
We barely noticed you back then!
Over the centuries, humans built
towering pyramids and mighty castles;
they formed religions; fought wars; used
sailing ships, carts, camels and mules to