Other herds of Outer Banks horses live in expanses largely free of human intrusion.
Even in areas with separation between human homes and animal facilities, zoonotic diseases still pose a risk to humans, largely because of human contact with animals.
There is compelling evidence that the world is warming and the climate changing – largely because of human activities in burning coal, oil and gas.
The discovery that vast areas of soil in Amazonia were manufactured has led archaeologists to rethink a once-influential claim that the Amazon was largely empty of human populations before Europeans arrived.
Breeding largely free of human intervention for more than 300 years, the sheep has adapted to the heat and humidity of the Gulf of Mexico coast and developed resistance to a number of diseases and parasites that debilitate other breeds.
The sheep the crofters left to make room for still graze the hillsides, and you might spot an otter or eagle overhead, but the area remains largely deserted of human influence.
Already, Poa annua, a species of European grass, has spread from the Polish research station on King George Island, the largest of the South Shetland islands.The Antarctic ecosystem is valued by scientists as a place largely free of human influence.
In a world where wildlife habitat is increasingly fragmented (largely because of human activity), connecting two or more patches of habitat by a thin strip of protected and undeveloped land can help allow the movement of animals, plants and insects, reducing local overpopulation and other stress-inducing problems that at their worst can lead to extinctions.
But a report from the National Academy of Sciences, requested by the White House and released on Wednesday, reaffirmed the mainstream scientific view that the earth's temperature is rising, largely because of human activities, and that this could cause drastic climate changes throughout the century.
