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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   1734 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 27, 2025

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What’s the wealthiest country with a non-marginal presence of each category of megafauna?

Temperate bears are easy- it’s the United States, if you say that doesn’t count for some reason(tinkering with the definition of marginal, I guess), then Canada. The next one seems like it’s probably Japan. Polar bears would be Norway, but let’s say those are a marine mammal.

For elephants, I’m guessing either South Africa or Malaysia, depending on exactly the range of Indian elephants. For giraffes and rhinos, I’m a bit more confident in South Africa.

For big cats I think this is Uruguay, with jaguars. Maybe there’s more leopards in Saudi Arabia than I think, though. Of course if you count pumas as big cats(they are after all both those things, but taxonomically different) then the US wins again.

For big grazers, this is the U.S., with bison. If you specifically restrict it to large antelope it might be Kazakhstan.

For apes, I’m pretty sure it’s Malaysia, with orangutans. Large monkeys would be Saudi Arabia, with baboons.

Big canines would be, probably, Norway.

Eagles are probably Switzerland.

Big snakes are, I’m guessing, either Malaysia or Singapore.

Any categories I’m missing? Any corrections?

I have a few thoughts.

Bears: I'm going to throw in a vote for the US. Black bears, brown bears, and grizzlies are all common. Russia might be in the running too.

Big cats: are you only including panthera, or "cats that are big"? The US might come back into the running with mountain lions if it's the latter.

Canines: the US probably wins here hands down if you include the larger eastern coyote. If you don't, it gets a lot murkier.

Big snakes: this might be the US these days. The Burmese python population is out of control in Florida, and they get enormous.

You might want to include a few more categories as well.

"Large browsers" are different from "large grazers". The US and Canada have moose and elk. Several countries in Africa have giraffe.

"Crocodilians" have representatives in the US, China, India, multiple South American countries, and at least Egypt. This probably goes to the US or China

"Aquatic mammals" is another interesting one, with freshwater dolphins (India, China, South America), manatees, and dugongs. This probably goes to the US, unless the dugong is more common in the Taiwan straight than I thought.

I'm not sure what the technical term is, but "giant honkin' birds" would be tricky. You have ostriches, and emus, but a few other that might fit as well. This gets complicated by the fact that the big two have been exported and farmed all over the world.n Australia probably wins here?

Australia probably wins for giant flightless birds. It also probably wins for giant lizards.

Crocodilians- I mean there’s american alligators, and theres saltwater crocodiles in Australia. Aquatic mammals almost certainly goes to US, with elephant seals even if manatees are too marginal.

For large browsers I think the US wins again, with moose.

Bears is definitely US or Norway. No way it’s Russia- it’s just too poor to win on widespread species. Canada, Japan, Scandinavia, all have bears.

Bears is definitely US or Norway. No way it’s Russia- it’s just too poor to win on widespread species. Canada, Japan, Scandinavia, all have bears.

I think I wrote that while I was trying do do some per Capita GDP vs megafauna math. If it's just "has animals", you're definitely right.

I mean, the winner of GDP per bear is probably some euro country with very few bears.

The Dubai zoo may end up winning all categories.

Scandavian winning again due to their socialized natural resources…

I would guess France, actually- a small but self-sustaining bear population with a large economy.

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