Partly-Baked Ideas

[Actingup]

Yes, this. Who was the fucker who thought cane toads were a good idea?

Wikipedia:
Native to South and mainland Middle America, imported cane toads had been used in Puerto Rico to control sugar cane pests since 1920, and an influential 1932 research paper by Raquel Dexter showed that they largely ate beetle larvae that in turn ate sugar cane.[3] Based on her findings, they were introduced to Hawaii by Cyril Pemberton in the early 1930s, and then introduced to Australia from Hawaii in June 1935 by the Bureau of Sugar Experiment Stations, now Sugar Research Australia, in an attempt to control the native grey-backed cane beetle (Dermolepida albohirtum) and French's beetle (Lepidiota frenchi).[4] Those beetles are native to Australia and they are detrimental to sugarcane crops, which are a major source of income for Australia. Adult cane beetles eat the leaves of the crop, but the main problem is the larvae, which feed on the roots. Adult cane beetles have a heavy exoskeleton and their eggs and larvae are often buried underground, making them difficult to exterminate. Furthermore, conventional methods of pest control, such as pesticide use, would have undesirable effects like eradicating harmless species of insects as well.[5] Cane toads were to replace the use of pesticides, such as arsenic, pitch, and copper. The success of using the moth Cactoblastis cactorum in controlling prickly pears in Australia led to the hope that the cane toad would perform a similar function.[6]

In June 1935, 102 cane toads (Rhinella marina, formerly ICZN Bufo marinus) were imported to Gordonvale from Hawaii, with one dying in transit due to dehydration. By March 1937, some 62,000 toadlets were bred in captivity and then released in areas around Cairns, Gordonvale, and Innisfail in northern Queensland. More toads were released around Ingham, Ayr, Mackay, and Bundaberg.[7] Releases were temporarily limited because of environmental concerns, but resumed in other areas after September 1936.

Since their release, toads have rapidly multiplied. By 2011 they were estimated to number over 200 million[8] and have been known to spread diseases, thereby affecting local biodiversity.[9] Not only has the introduction of the toads has caused significant environmental detriment, but there is no evidence that they have affected the number of cane beetles which they were introduced to prey upon.

 

[jaF0]

Only Australia can be a more than partly baked desert in the middle of the ocean.

 

[SimonDoom]

Fun fact for the day - hamsters are simply not allowed to exist in Australia in any way. They cannot be kept as pets, as zoo animals or in laboratories for research, and are strictly forbidden from entering the country for any reason.

Across the Tasman in New Zealand, snakes do not occur naturally and are forbidden from entering the country. Exotic snakes cannot be kept as pets, in zoos or wildlife parks or in scientific research centres.

To quote the late Robert Ripley, believe it or not.

Until people brought them, there were no terrestrial mammals OR reptiles of any kind in the Hawaiian Islands. There was no way for them to get there, since Hawaii is the most remote significant island chain in the world. Those cute little mongooses you see scurrying around were brought over, and they've devastated bird populations.

Australia is an interesting case, because it's not THAT far away from other major land masses. It's curious that its wildlife and plants are so different from everywhere else. Too far for hamsters to swim, I suppose.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Camels ...
White people ...

https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.713681d9b15a487a0b4dd469c26f1620?rik=hZhSJeb9cPOy0g&pid=ImgRaw&r=0

 

[RetroFan]

Until people brought them, there were no terrestrial mammals OR reptiles of any kind in the Hawaiian Islands. There was no way for them to get there, since Hawaii is the most remote significant island chain in the world. Those cute little mongooses you see scurrying around were brought over, and they've devastated bird populations.

Australia is an interesting case, because it's not THAT far away from other major land masses. It's curious that its wildlife and plants are so different from everywhere else. Too far for hamsters to swim, I suppose.

It is remarkable how different Australian wildlife is from that found in South East Asia or Oceania. Even within Australia, the wildlife found on the island state of Tasmania is quite different from that found on the mainland.

Another case of disastrous introduction of exotic wildlife is in Guam, where there were no snakes on the main or surrounding islands for millions of years. Then snakes got into Guam during World War 2, and have since wreaked havoc there among native species who had no concept of these reptilian predators. Island wildlife can be vulnerable like this, another famous example is the Dodo which lived of course on Mauritius, the Reunion Islands and a few other small islands in the region. With no people living in these places up until the 1600s the dodos had no natural predators, and were not bothered at all by the arrival of man along with dogs, cats, pigs, monkeys and rats, and would not even think to run away whenever one of these strange new arrivals was approaching ....

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Another classic example, still talked about in biology seminar hushed-whisper seminars, was the 1807 introduction to North America of the common auditor, Microphalus pestulentus. Imported from London with the intent of moderating the inflationary effects of the Jamaica-New England rum trade, the species instead became feral, infecting brokerages, businesses, corporations and charities, hobbling production and crippling innovation. Efforts to exterminate them have to date proved governmentally flawed.
.

 

[stickygirl]

Of course, it doesn't need to be plagues of infestation to cause disaster. The Stephens Island in NZ, was home to a flightless Lyall's wren that was discovered and eradicated by, it is said, the lighthouse keeper's cat in 1895.
The keeper noted the bird was largely nocturnal “running around the rocks like a mouse and so quick in its movements that he could not get near enough to hit it with a stick or stone.”
https://64.media.tumblr.com/44498df647779b1d6e161365dab9e689/74a46250556c8d49-5d/s1280x1920/e8f12fc23f02a5eaca5de3173b73b038778d4d63.pnj

 

[Rustyoznail]

Another classic example, still talked about in biology seminar hushed-whisper seminars, was the 1807 introduction to North America of the common auditor, Microphalus pestulentus. Imported from London with the intent of moderating the inflationary effects of the Jamaica-New England rum trade, the species instead became feral, infecting brokerages, businesses, corporations and charities, hobbling production and crippling innovation. Efforts to exterminate them have to date proved governmentally flawed.
.

It would be funny if it wasn't so true.