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Invasive Species

First we had the American grey squirrel turfing out our plucky but smaller British Reds, recently we've had American Crayfish taking over from our plucky but smaller British ones, now it's American Lobsters threatening our plucky Euro ones.

Bastards.

Send them back in cans I say.
 
I do hear that squirrel is quite tasty..
 
S'OK. Just not much meat on them, it's hardly worth the trouble.

Fair enough. I was basing my claim entirely on an Elvis early years documentary. Elvis lurved squirl. He probably got to be a dab hand at skinning 'em.

I can see you'd need a few to satisfy your appetite. How did you get to try it - did you shoot one [or more] then barbecue, kebab style? or maybe it was in a Heston Blumenthal restaurant.
 
South Florida has a huge python problem.

Following the monthlong Burmese Python removal competition designed to remove as many of the snakes from the Everglades as possible, there still remains an inordinate amount of pythons. Researchers who have been tracking Burmese pythons captured more than one ton over the last three months in southwest Florida.

Among the 43 pythons removed researchers found the largest male python ever documented in south Florida, measuring 16 feet and weighing more than 140 pounds.

"Burmese pythons are cracking the code on the Southwest Florida habitat, learning how to survive and breed locally," the Conservancy of Southwest Florida said in a press release.

Over the last three years, researchers at the government agency have enlisted the help of captured pythons.

By tagging "snitch snakes" with radio trackers, researchers hope to study where the pythons are living in order to catch other snakes. Fifteen adult pythons are currently being surveyed by radio tags so scientists can learn more about the ecological implications of the invasive species.

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/19/us/tons-of-pythons-in-swfl-irpt/index.html
 
South Florida has a huge python problem.

Following the monthlong Burmese Python removal competition designed to remove as many of the snakes from the Everglades as possible, there still remains an inordinate amount of pythons. Researchers who have been tracking Burmese pythons captured more than one ton over the last three months in southwest Florida.

Among the 43 pythons removed researchers found the largest male python ever documented in south Florida, measuring 16 feet and weighing more than 140 pounds.

"Burmese pythons are cracking the code on the Southwest Florida habitat, learning how to survive and breed locally," the Conservancy of Southwest Florida said in a press release.

Over the last three years, researchers at the government agency have enlisted the help of captured pythons.

By tagging "snitch snakes" with radio trackers, researchers hope to study where the pythons are living in order to catch other snakes. Fifteen adult pythons are currently being surveyed by radio tags so scientists can learn more about the ecological implications of the invasive species.

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/19/us/tons-of-pythons-in-swfl-irpt/index.html
Another way to help rid the state of it's ~ 10000 some odd adult pythons would be to place a bounty on them. It worked all to well with the American wolf.
 
South Florida has a huge python problem.

Following the monthlong Burmese Python removal competition designed to remove as many of the snakes from the Everglades as possible, there still remains an inordinate amount of pythons. Researchers who have been tracking Burmese pythons captured more than one ton over the last three months in southwest Florida.

Among the 43 pythons removed researchers found the largest male python ever documented in south Florida, measuring 16 feet and weighing more than 140 pounds.

"Burmese pythons are cracking the code on the Southwest Florida habitat, learning how to survive and breed locally," the Conservancy of Southwest Florida said in a press release.

Over the last three years, researchers at the government agency have enlisted the help of captured pythons.

By tagging "snitch snakes" with radio trackers, researchers hope to study where the pythons are living in order to catch other snakes. Fifteen adult pythons are currently being surveyed by radio tags so scientists can learn more about the ecological implications of the invasive species.

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/19/us/tons-of-pythons-in-swfl-irpt/index.html
That URL doesn't work.
 
As I am just learning, people here have a strange sense of humour. Haha. Well, Ramonmercad, I really see no difference between species like carp and our own invasive behaviors. Seriously, we have garbage dumps in our cities as big as our cities. Hundreds of billions of tonnes of waste is contributed to the worlds dump yards every day. We do the same things that these carp are said to do. We are the invasive species. There are islands of plastic garbage floating on the seas, and all we can think of doing is blaming nature for the mess we ourselves put ourselves in. And like Carp, we too hang out at popular landmarks, like Starbucks, or Tim Hortons. What I am saying is that there is no difference between the troubles we are seeing with Nature, and our own destructive behaviors, no difference at all.

Is that actually possible? If the garbage dump is as big as the city that it is a part of then surely it is just a garbage dump and not a city. The dump and the city that is the same size as it cannot coexist in the same physical area.
 
Is that actually possible? If the garbage dump is as big as the city that it is a part of then surely it is just a garbage dump and not a city. The dump and the city that is the same size as it cannot coexist in the same physical area.
I wonder what happens to the trash in the Tardis. :confused:
 
Is that actually possible? If the garbage dump is as big as the city that it is a part of then surely it is just a garbage dump and not a city. The dump and the city that is the same size as it cannot coexist in the same physical area.

I think you have made the mistake of taking Jim's pronouncements as factually accurate rather than his own opinion.

I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for a response - he seems to have vacated the premises.
 
Another way to help rid the state of it's ~ 10000 some odd adult pythons would be to place a bounty on them. It worked all to well with the American wolf.

Perhaps too successfully in the case of wolves!

A bounty might tempt the incompetent to enter swamps and get lost/drowned or killed/eaten by snakes & gators.
 
An invading horde is spreading across the northern forests of North America, gobbling seeds and altering forest ecosystems as it goes. Who are these marauding horrors? Humble earthworms.

Despite their reputation as a gardener’s friend and contributor to soil fertility, these earthworms aren’t natives. The native earthworms were wiped out by glaciers during the last ice age, so the northern part of the US and Canada has probably been earthworm free for tens of thousands of years and every earthworm now living there is in fact an invader, usually from Europe.

The worms can cause dramatic changes to ecosystems by altering soils, reducing leaf litter and disrupting microbial interactions, which reduces biodiversity. Now it seems they are also eating plant seeds in the wild, potentially altering the make-up of forest communities. ...

https://www.newscientist.com/articl...paign=hoot&cmpid=SOC|NSNS|2016-GLOBAL-twitter
 
An invading horde is spreading across the northern forests of North America, gobbling seeds and altering forest ecosystems as it goes. Who are these marauding horrors? Humble earthworms.

Despite their reputation as a gardener’s friend and contributor to soil fertility, these earthworms aren’t natives. The native earthworms were wiped out by glaciers during the last ice age, so the northern part of the US and Canada has probably been earthworm free for tens of thousands of years and every earthworm now living there is in fact an invader, usually from Europe.

The worms can cause dramatic changes to ecosystems by altering soils, reducing leaf litter and disrupting microbial interactions, which reduces biodiversity. Now it seems they are also eating plant seeds in the wild, potentially altering the make-up of forest communities. ...

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2083338-invasive-earthworms-threaten-growth-of-new-north-american-trees/?utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=SOC&utm_campaign=hoot&cmpid=SOC|NSNS|2016-GLOBAL-twitter
It's hard to believe when I consider how numerous the are. They have become a part of the food chain they have so many predator frogs, snakes, birds, shrews, etc.. Never knew they were an invasive species.
 
Are 'killer' Asian hornets on their way to the UK?
21 May 2016
Last updated at 09:51 BST

They have been dubbed killer invaders that target bees and have caused the deaths of several people in France, but has the deadly Asian hornet made it to the UK?

Worried members of the public believe they have spotted some in the south of England and people have been told to be vigilant.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-36349379

Brexit will stop them! Vid at link.
 
And these are huge as well.

DNA tests have confirmed that three man-eating Nile crocodiles have been found living in Florida's swamps.

Unlike local alligators, the species preys on humans and is thought to be responsible for up to 200 deaths a year at home in sub-Saharan Africa.

It is possible more of the beasts are at large in the state, experts say.

It is not known for certain how they reached the US. "They didn't swim from Africa," said University of Florida herpetologist Kenneth Krysko.

One likely possibility was that they were brought in illegally by unlicensed collectors, who then failed to keep them secured or intentionally released them, Mr Krysko told the Associated Press news agency.

http://www.bbc.com/news/36349031
 
And these are huge as well.

DNA tests have confirmed that three man-eating Nile crocodiles have been found living in Florida's swamps.

Unlike local alligators, the species preys on humans and is thought to be responsible for up to 200 deaths a year at home in sub-Saharan Africa.

It is possible more of the beasts are at large in the state, experts say.

It is not known for certain how they reached the US. "They didn't swim from Africa," said University of Florida herpetologist Kenneth Krysko.

One likely possibility was that they were brought in illegally by unlicensed collectors, who then failed to keep them secured or intentionally released them, Mr Krysko told the Associated Press news agency.

http://www.bbc.com/news/36349031
Nasty indeed, I've heard figures like > 500 deaths in Africa from Nile crocodile attacks. At least the Burmese pythons weren't eating people.

Experts say that it is possible to stay to fight off a shark, but it is much more difficult or even impossible to rescue themselves from an attacking croc. Sharks kill or mail up to 15 people every year. Hippos kill 200, elephants kill 250, bees - 1,250, whereas crocodiles kill 2,500 people every year.
 
semantics, shamantics oh well?
 
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