Uninvited guests: 8 introduced species that showed Kuz'kin's mother to locals

Sometimes a good (seemingly) deed turns into such problems that you understand: it would be better if everything remained as it was. Bringing into their countries seemingly useful “tourists” – new species of animals or plants – their inhabitants risk realizing how big a mistake they made only when it's too late to drink Borjomi. “Subtleties” recalled the stories of the most famous plants and animals-invaders, through whose fault the flora and fauna were seriously affected on almost all continents.

1. Domestic goats

One of the most dramatic stories of animal invaders played out in the Galapagos. Several harmless domestic goats were brought there in 1959 to create a population and provide local residents with milk and meat. Part of the goats fled into the wild, began to multiply uncontrollably in the absence of natural enemies and ate up the exceptionally lush vegetation on the islands to bald spots, depriving many endemics of food.

The Galapagos government had to develop the Isabella plan to destroy the goat population. This is the only way rare species of plants and animals have escaped extinction.

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2. Toad-yeah

From the school curriculum, some remember that this amphibian is poisonous. And when she was deliberately brought to Australia so that she would eat beetles that destroyed valuable crops, it turned out that there was absolutely no one to eat the toads themselves. Because of this, and also thanks to her amazing fertility, the aga turned from a savior into an occupier: under her, the number of lizards and small snakes in some parts of Australia was reduced to almost zero, and other animal species were left without food.

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3. Canadian goldenrod

A pretty plant with lush yellow inflorescences was introduced to the Old World as an ornamental species, but over time it became wild and began to grow randomly along roads and other open spaces. The distribution rate of the goldenrod is high, so it easily crowded out other species, including in Russia. And in China, because of it, plants familiar to the region began to disappear in whole groups.

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4. Canadian beaver

The Canadian beaver is similar to the river beaver (ordinary), which is familiar to Russia, only breeds better. Due to this feature, he strongly moved the local beavers in their natural habitat. The numerical superiority has long been on the side of the unkind beaver invader – and will continue to grow, scientists are sure. And the common beaver runs the risk of remaining only in museums and zoos after some time. Canadian beavers came to Russia from Finland in the 1950s. With their arrival, there were more swamps and dried spruce forests.

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5. Ash-leaved maple

North America is considered the homeland of this maple, from there it was brought to Europe in the 17th century. At first, botanists could not get enough of him: a beautiful, well-growing, unpretentious plant perfectly decorated the parks. But later it turned out that the harm from it is more than good. It reproduces very actively by self-sowing, but at the same time it is weak: in strong winds, it is this type of maple that breaks faster than others, damaging cars, buildings and wires. In addition, under the tree itself, other plants cannot grow because of the dense shade. So, capturing new territories, he expels all the rest of the flora from there.

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6. Nile Perch

The unpretentious Nile perch was brought to Central Africa in the middle of the 20th century so that the fishing industry could develop, and the locals would have the opportunity to eat delicious fish more often. People did not take into account only one thing: the perch turned out to be very unpretentious, in a short time displacing other species of fish from African lakes. This was especially noticeable on Lake Victoria, where in just 30 years, three hundred species of fish disappeared due to the Nile perch, which turned out to be a voracious carrier of various diseases.

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7. Starling

Looking at these kids, of which there are many in Moscow and nearby regions, it is hard to believe that they are able to show someone Kuz'kin's mother.

Facts are stubborn things: the common starling, introduced to different countries of the world, is considered a very aggressive bird.

No, the starling does not attack people (yet), but I can’t save other small birds from it. Starlings take over their nests and even throw out their eggs, which is why the population of native species is rapidly declining. Farmers also dislike starlings, because these birds destroy crops.

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What else to read on the topic

• 9 very scary, but completely harmless creatures of Thailand
• They are no more: 8 species of animals that became extinct in the 21st century
• 7 steep lakes in Russia that can replace sea holidays

8. Dark tiger python

This spotted handsome man from Southeast Asia made a splash in the US state of Florida. It ended up there thanks to exotic animal dealers who offered this predator to their customers as a pet (the python looks impressive, while it is non-poisonous and harmless to humans). It is not clear how the expensive toy ended up in the wild: several individuals either escaped or were simply released. As a result, the dark tiger python succeeded in becoming Florida's new top predator instead of alligators, wiping out over 98% of the opossum population and over 87% of the bobcat population.

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