When the sheep were removed, the páramo — high-altitude ecosystems in the Andes — started to heal. Without their waste, water quality improved. Without their hooves compacting the soil, plants began to grow again. Before long, shy white-tailed deer arrived, drawn by the grasses and shrubs for food and shelter. Not long after, pumas reappeared. “This could serve as a case study for how food chains rebuild and slowly reshape the landscape,” says Evelyn Araujo, a biologist with the Fundación Cóndor Andino (FCA), which monitors the páramos around Ecuador’s Antisana volcano, southeast of Quito. “It’s also helping restore the region’s ability to provide water to the city,” says Silvia Benítez, director for the Latin America freshwater program at The Nature Conservancy (TNC). The reappearance of

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