Using the end of the Pleistocene period some 13,000 years ago - when the prehistoric cousins of these and other "megafauna" roamed North America by the millions - as a benchmark, the scientists call for the "re-wilding" of great swathes of sparsely populated land.

"It would take many, many hundreds of square miles (kilometers)," said Harry Greene, one of the authors and a professor at Cornell University in New York. "We are talking about an American Serengeti," he added, referring to the 15,000 square kilometer (5,800 square mile) wildlife preserve in northern Tanzania.

There are at least three compelling reasons - one biological, one ethical and one economic - to take such a bold step, the authors argue.

Repopulating the American Great Plains with the descendents of species that disappeared from that habitat more than 10,000 years ago is "an alternative conservation strategy for the 21st century," says Josh Donlan, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Cornell, and lead author of the editorial.

"We want to reinvigorate wild places as widely and rapidly as is prudently possible," he writes.

Without dramatic, "pro-active" steps, he suggests, many big carnivores and herbivores will disappear from the wild by century's end. "Africa's large mammals are dying, stranded on a continent where wars are waged over scarce resources."

Anticipating objections about manipulating nature, Greene points out that moving Asian and African megafauna to North America is simply restoring a natural equilibrium and biodiversity.

"When you compare the total fauna and flora of 10,000 years ago with today, there has been virtually no plant loss and maybe one small mammal - most of the loss has been big animals" decimated by the presence of man, he told AFP.

Indeed, humans "bear an ethical responsibility to redress these problems," Greene said, yet another reason to act.

Donlan and his colleagues also argue that the creation of a network of nature preserves would generate tourism and boost depressed local economies, pointing to the successful restoration of wolves to the Yellowstone National Park, and the popularity of existing wild animal parks.

Greene, 59, does not expect to see camels and cheetahs roaming the midwest in his lifetime, but is nonetheless optimistic that things are moving in the right direction.

He pointed out the recreation of "buffalo commons," where wild bison live in a network of preserves connected by corridors. Less than 300 years ago there were tens of millions of bison roaming the American plains.

"Maybe by mid-century," he said, wistfully. "I'd love to see that."

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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