Grey or dead
I think pretty much every country has one; a species that shouldn’t be there and that threatens one that should.
In the UK we have the grey squirrel at the expense of our native red squirrel – the grey one eats all the food much earlier in the season, before the red ones can eat it.
In Australia, you have the cane toad . – at the expense of, well, pretty much any animal that eats one.
And cats too.
Then there’s Japanese knotweed to annoy the gardeners world-wide.
If you know any more, do tell.
The one thing they all have in common, is that none of them invaded these countries on their own (though given time, I think squirrels might have managed to build a ship, they’re rather clever). No, we ‘helped’. But we are trying to put things right, or at least someone is. Specifically people on Anglesey.
Technorati Tags: squirels, invaders, pests, webcomic, comic
Sean on 
Maddie on
I think it’s Zebra mussels that have pretty much taken over the great lakes here. Can’t remember how they mess things up, but I think it involves lots of fish dying.
Chuck Palahniuk gives a few more examples in his book Lullaby, I think.
I got cane toad poisoning once, the only time I actually I was gonna die.
Feral cats, dogs and a few birds are a problem here, but the worst pest we have is human.
I love to stop hippies in the middle of an anti cat speech and ask what they think we should do about humans if they think that all cats need killing.
I normally get told to F*** Off. LOL, I like hippies, they are dumb.
In America we have the Republican National Party, followed by their slightly less dangerous but equally tenacious cousin the elusive Democrat
LOL.
I have an idea. Anywhere
non-native species are threatening
to become the new natives, I say
import *killer bees* to eradicate them.
OMG No, the honeybee and bumblebee are already in the midst of a mysterious plague we can’t do anything about! Killer bees are horribly scary, how could you even joke about something like that?
We have trolls on the internet. They force nice people to close up their blogs because they haven’t got the energy to deal with drama that doesn’t have to do with important issues.
Ecologically, I’d have to say that, living in New England, I’m a bit tired of seeing more spiders than butterflies, but I’m relieved that the spiders also like to do a number on the mosquitos and things.
this is a really REALLY random comment to make, but ther ya go.
Adam, you live in England?!
i always assumed you live in America..cos..well…every webcomic artist usually does.
Golfwidow, you can have our moths if that helps…
And I don’t mind taking care of your spiders, ours are fat and lazy from feasting constantly on moths.
In Florida we have Manatees…FAT STINKING ENDANGERED PESTS!
I’m glad to report that this is a reasonably troll free space. They are a pest though.
Are they getting to you at the moment? Perhaps someone here can help.
Indeed I am from England, webcomic or not.
And did I tell you about…
Whey, an England-dwelling webcomic artist. awesomeness.
And typing in an english accent would be awesome, but how? of course, now i know you’re english i will assume you are typing with an english accent. but i don’t reckon i sounds so english meself.
so, which part of england gets the joy of having you as a resident?
(fancy language eh?)
Clearly, the human+manatee/humanity idea is the best thing ever. And I usually only say good things about muffins.
The fellow that does Bunny is British as well, I believe. Another great comic.
I spent… oh god, too long, working and studying in ecology, particularly in the area of invasive species. You would be amazed at the number, and the degree of harm they do to native diversity and ecosystems. For example: Earthworms. Most earthworms you see on the East Coast of the USA are invasive (from China and England). The nightcrawlers in particular have done a lot of damage, basically wiping out three (down where I am in Appalachia) native species, and altering the soil nutrient profile in the action. Which in turn changes the vegetation community, which changes the insects that feed on the veg, which changes the birds, small mammals, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Just one example.
Woolly adelgids (killing all the hemlock trees), Chestnut Blight, Dutch Elm disease… all of these have or are changing the nature of our forests permanently. There’s no going back. This is what the forests on the East coast used to look like.
Another: Asian Tiger Mosquitoes. Nasty things, one of the only mosquitoes that feeds almost exclusively on humans, vector for Dengue and Yellow fever, huge, pernicious, and good competitors for breeding grounds. They’re driving out many local species of milder mosquitoes, and changing bird populations, by being harder to catch and not tasting as good. Brought to America by the used tyre trade! Oy vey.
The joys of Globalization.
It is funny, we hear alot about protecting the cute and cluddlu furry little animals cos they is soooo cute you just wanna hug em.
But in reality, it is the worms, the bacteria, the roaches that need protection.
A pyramid with no base is pretty useless.
But a worm doesn’t have the same appeal of a baby panda, sneezing.
Hence why lovely creatures like sharks and crocs and ganahls are all endangered. Don’t even get me started on the pink river dolphin. You’d THINK that something like a pink river dolphin would get more press, but no. And now they’re extinct.
Maddie, I’m from Lancaster, just north of Manchester:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancaster,_Lancashire
It’s an odd place, long past its best, but like an old pair of sneakers, it fits comfortably.
Hello, Pille. If there’s a bad thing about muffins, I have yet to discover it.
Thank you, Roo; aside from earning yourself a massive number of geekpoints (I’m thinking of starting a high-score table), I found that really informative… and you used the word ‘pernicious’. genius.
The thing that Ben picked up on, the base of the pyramid, is often overlooked. It’s rather difficult to encourage people to think about bacteria and insects as anything but pests, despite the fact that they really hold it all together.
Perhaps we could stick some fluff to a worm, teach it to sneeze and hold a public appeal?
I’m surprised that none of the other Canadians have mentioned this, but we have issues with those damned red squirrels too. My Father (who has retired to Northern Ontario) has in fact taken to shooting them, as he likes the native red squirrels, but the grey and black ones moving north from the urbanized areas aren’t content with just starving the reds anymore, but have been savaging them, and leaving their bloody corpses on the deck. Also, the zebra mussels are consuming all of the microorganisms, making the lakes lovely and clear, as well as dead and sterile. (Also they cut your feet.)
The zebra mussel is being spread because people don’t clean their boats properly after using them. I think that’s pretty sad, really.
I didn’t know the grey squirrel was up there. Bastards.
You know, no one has touched on the Kudzu out here in the south, which is eating the world. It’s a frighteningly aggressive plant, is Kudzu.
Here in Canada we have Scottish Broom, an awful, smelly, yellow or red flowering weed that has spread far and wide, choking the land with its whip-lines of kelly green foreboding.
California has cracked down on invaders as far as I know (though we introduced a LOT of fruit and nut trees since anything will grow here*), though in the 1950s we almost killed the redwood population by stopping forest fires. …No I did not learn that from QI. XD
*Whenever my friends talk about divvying up the world once they’ve taken it over, I always quietly ask for California. Cali basically grows most of the produce the USA consumes, so if one controls Cali, one controls a great deal of the food supply. Bwahahahaha!
In the southeastern regions of the United States, the native green anole is being supplanted rapidly by the agressive, prolific Cuban anole. Those bastards! You hardly see the green ones any longer… and they were so lovely.
New Zealand:The possums, scourge of the kiwis.
Y’know I’d always assumed they were native…
Well, there are some possums native to Australia, like the sugar glider. I’m assuming KLT is referring to the Virginia Opossum, from the US?
I’ve always felt sorry for starlings because they’re such endearing and smart birds– can even learn to talk– and yet everyone hates them where I live, because they’re an invasive species that threatens native songbirds. According to various sources, some idiot decided to import into America all the bird species mentioned by Shakespeare, and that’s where we got starlings and plenty of other displaced birds that end up wrecking other birds’ lives while just trying to make a living.
I agree, though, that humans are by far the most invasive species, getting into way more places we shouldn’t be and threatening way more native species than any other animal. And we bring other invasive species with us. Until we learn to control our own reproduction and our own impact on the environment, the world is in trouble.