Natural History

Posted in wildlife | Tagged burmese python, carp, Defenders of Wildlife, gambian pouched rat, starling | 7 Comments

7 Responses

1. on October 31, 2009 at 2:08 am cyborgsuzy

   Wait, did I hear that right? Our invasive species problems are all caused by the importation of exotic pets?

   Um, no. I’m sure plenty of those pythons were from stock bred in captivity in the US.

   And European starlings were released on purpose.

   The most harmful species were never pets in the first place (zebra mussels, anyone?). Why pick on the pet trade specifically? (Aside from the fact that it’s an easier target than, say, commercial shipping companies).

   The only species they list where this might be true is the relative new comer the pouched rat, but even then, there are already breeders in the US.

   Aha. And I see on the defenders.org page that they want to have more restrictions on interstate and international trade in exotics.

   Fair enough. Pythons are pretty easy to breed though. I bet pouched rats are, too. I’m sure there are plenty of hobbyists within states to keep pet stores well stocked.

   
   
   • on October 31, 2009 at 11:54 am retrieverman

     Pouched rats carry monkey pox and were banned along with prairie dogs for a few years. Of course, prairie dogs are native and from what I hear not much different than pet gray squirrels.

     Burmese pythons can live in a larger part of the United States than you would think. They aren’t just confined to the tropics in Asia. They make it into the subtropical parts of China: http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1875

     I think this map is more accurate for the species called the Asian rock python, which includes both Indian and Burmese subspecies. The Indian subspecies can handle more arid conditions than the Burmese.

     Yes, they are easily bred in captivity, but so are tigers. And most states and the federal government have strict laws on captive tigers. People are killed by pet pythons all the time, especially retics. Burmese kill a few people every year. I don’t think they are suitable for the casual owner, which belies their ability to reproduce rather easily in captivity.

     Speaking of those rats:

     Starlings were released by some Shakespearian nerds in New York, who wanted all of the birds mentioned in Shakespear’s plays and poems to be introduced to America.

     And carp were introduced to private ponds and then wound up in rivers and lakes (the are big problem in the Great Lakes now). They are usually brought into farm ponds to control plants.

     
     
     • on October 31, 2009 at 6:28 pm cyborgsuzy

       Holy cow! That map with the projected climate change is crazy. Wild pythons in Oregon. Whoa.

       
       
2. on October 31, 2009 at 6:27 pm cyborgsuzy

   I’m all for a few more restrictions on exotic pets. I completely agree that retics should be considered closer to tigers than, say, ball pythons. Restrictions on importing new species? Sounds good. Would help with keeping out wild-caught, too.

   It’s just ridiculous to focus on the pet trade when there’s so other many avenues for invasive species to enter North America. Shipping is a huge one. Cargo containers and ship ballast are almost completely ignored even though we know it’s a problem.

   “The Silent invasion” is a great documentary made in my home state about people trying to combat invasive plant species and zebra mussels – and coming up hard against political obstacles. We could stop the spread of zebra mussels today if boat cleaning and inspection were actually enforced, but states are afraid that will cut into tourism dollars.

   We could slow the spread of already established species if we could make it illegal to sell them in nurseries. I’ve seriously seen Scotch broom for sale as an ornamental. And English ivy isn’t quite as popular as it was in the ’50’s, but I’ve seen it for sale, too. And Japanese knotweed.

   What kills me is that there are proven methods to eradicate these plants, but few are willing to make it a priority. That’s why I get irritated when efforts are focused on the pet trade, which is such a small part of the problem. It’s just an easy target. People who have exotic pets are still considered ‘fringe’ or ‘weird’ so it’s OK to pick on them. While it’s notoriously hard to pass legislation telling ‘normal’ folks what they can and can’t plant in their yards. Or getting large companies to check all of their cargo containers.

   (My summer job was as an invasive weed specialist for the Forest Service, so invasive plants are my specialty. I can’t go for a drive or a hike without my brain spotting and cataloging all the plants along the way.)

   
   
   • on October 31, 2009 at 6:53 pm retrieverman

     Lots of invasive species were released by the government. Multiflora rose bushes run wild over most old pastures here, which was great for the rabbits for a while.

     We also have autumn olives, which were release to provide habitat for songbirds, but the only songbirds around here that use them are towhees.

     We have Japanese stilt grass, which I curse every time I see it. Apparently, there is a disease here now that will kill it. I hope we have a plague of it.

     Tartarian honeysuckle used to festoon the fence line of the old pasture, a wonderful place for copperheads which is why we were told to stay away from the fence line.

     And now we have the harlequin ladybird here (which we just call “those damn ladybugs”). I’m slightly allergic to the ladybug poison, and this time of year, they swarm houses in search of a place to hibernate.

     My state stocks European wild boar, which is incredibly stupid.

     The only non-native species that don’t cause trouble (at least here) are pheasants and red foxes. If we had prairie chickens or sharp-tailed grouse here, though, the pheasants would be a problem, because they lay eggs the eggs of those species and then hens won’t sit on their nests. The foxes are semi-native, because there are records of a few of them in colonial times. We do have cross foxes here, which is a native color phase, but most are descended from the red fox from England.

     
     
     • on November 1, 2009 at 5:01 pm cyborgsuzy

       Around here it’s the wild turkeys. They’ve been releasing them since the 60’s. The hunters love it, but they can be a huge nuisance. I don’t know how environmentally harmful they are. Obviously not as bad as wild boar, but they must be competing with native birds like grouse.

       They’re extremely delicious, though.

       
       
       • on November 1, 2009 at 5:07 pm retrieverman

         They are native here. They very nearly went extinct and were only revived with crossing flying breeds of domestic turkey.

         They aren’t any kind of nuisance here at all.

         
         

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