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Whether it’s for economic reasons, for pest control, or simply to introduce an interesting addition to a home or estate, humans have introduced numerous animal species to new, unfamiliar habitats. Sometimes they introduced species that didn’t have that much of an impact on native environments, but all too often, as happens when humans interfere with nature…it went disastrously wrong. Stay tuned to number 1 to find out which ones you might already have as a pet!
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Transcript provided by YouTube:
whether it’s for economic reasons for pest control or simply to introduce an
interesting addition to a home or a state humans have introduced numerous
animal species to new unfamiliar habitats sometimes they introduced
species then didn’t have much of an impact on native environments but all
too often as happens when humans interfere with nature it went
disastrously wrong stay tuned to number one to find out which ones you might
already have as a pet
number ten Yellowstone wolfs now this is a perfect example of how people’s
actions and decisions can have a continuous negative impact on local
environments thanks to human involvement the last northern Rocky Mountain wolves
at Yellowstone Park were killed by the government order in 1926 it wasn’t until
decades later that scientists and conservationists realized the mistake
that their decision had on the environment and begin the process of
reintroducing them back into the area however the Wolves impact sense
reintroduction into the ecosystem has created both positive and negative
outcomes so what went wrong well some people blame the type of wolf introduced
however it should be noted that both the northern Rocky Mountain wolf and the
north western wolf which was introduced are both a subspecies of the same
species although the reintroduced animal is slightly bigger reproduces in larger
numbers and is more aggressive but overall it’s unlikely that this is a
massive contributor to the issues caused by their reintroduction nevertheless
they have caused numerous problems in the area and that area has expanded as
the pack grows to include Idaho Montana and Colorado not to mention the Rocky
Mountain area of Wyoming where they were introduced not only your farmers losing
livestock but the elk herds in the surrounding regions have been decimated
with a 40 to 50 percent decrease in herd size due to the wolf’s feeding on them
this is definitely an example of how things can go disastrously wrong when
humans try to introduce animals into new environments number 9 Burmese pythons
the Burmese python is a great example of how bad things can get when you
introduce a predatory animal into an ecosystem that doesn’t have any natural
predator native to Southeast Asia this snake has been introduced to southern
Florida where it has widely been kept as a pet although it is now believed that
there could be a few thousand of them living in the wild the growing
population of the wild Burmese pythons has the potential to cause a
logical disaster for native species as they don’t have any predators in that
region other than humans they’ve also developed an appetite for local
endangered species causing concern for conservationists they’ve even been known
to take on an alligator in order to try to combat the sheer number of pythons
inhabiting the waterways local authorities have called on hunters to
help keep the numbers down I hope I never see one of these in the wild
no thank you number eight the Nile perch the Nile perch is a species of
freshwater fish that is native to the Congo Nile and Niger rivers as well as
other bodies in the surrounding area as one of the largest freshwater fish it
can measure up to two meters in length making it a massive catch it has been
introduced to several other freshwater lakes the most notable being Lake
Victoria in East Africa where it is considered a textbook example of the
negative effects of humans introducing animals to new environments in all it’s
believed the Nile perch has contributed to the near extinction of several
hundred native species initially introduced with planned economic
benefits to the local fishing industry some communities bordering the shores of
the lake were not properly equipped to deal with the changing ecosystem and
they suffered a massive socio-economic impact as a result this example shows
how species introduced for commercial purposes can have a devastating impact
on the local environment and can even negatively impact local communities as
well at least there are plenty of fish to eat that is if you can manage to
catch one number seven domestic cat it might surprise you to find domestic cats
on this list but humans have introduced them to numerous environments and they
are actually on the list of the 100 worst invasive species in the world as a
pet cats have brought lots of love and joy to millions of people who keep them
as pets but they’ve also had negative impacts on the environment especially in
the United States introduced by European colonists the population of domesticated
cats has increased dramatically across the continent especially in
urban areas and while the housecat isn’t typically an issue keep in mind that
there are over 100 million feral cats that now live in the wild
although the wild cats descendants of runaway pets or abandoned animals caused
a lot of problems it is both wild and domesticated cats that prey on local
wildlife just because a human feeds a cat doesn’t mean it won’t hunt I mean
cats are hunters after all so combined they eat or kill a lot of native and
non-native species but it’s not just what they eat that causes problems just
their presence can be problematic for birds because let’s face it who would
want to raise their young next to a predators layer yet no matter how much
of a problem cats cause it’s highly unlikely their status is one of the most
popular pets is going to change anytime soon
number six Siberian chipmunk the Siberian chipmunk is native to places
like northern Asia Central Russia China Korea and northern Japan it was only
recently introduced to Europe in the 1960s when it was a popular pet by the
1970s their population had increased dramatically and they inhabited many
suburban forests and urban parts in countries across Europe
unlike some introduced species the Siberian chipmunk it brings some
benefits like the dispersion of seeds and fungi spores but they’ve also
brought negative impacts with varying severity they eat crops and annoy
gardeners they compete with native species for food and they even bring
diseases such as Lyme disease that can be dangerous to both humans and pets
alike in all this species hasn’t caused much of a widespread disaster as other
examples on this list but these cute little creatures have definitely raised
environmental concerns but did you see it though I think it want one now number
five small Indian Mongoose native to South and Southeast Asia the small
Indian Mongoose doesn’t mind living in close proximity to people and has been
introduced to numerous places like Hawaii the Bahamas Cuba Costa Rica
Jamaica and Colombia you know the list goes on and on
this species was introduced to try to combat agricultural issues for example
in Hawaii and the Caribbean they were introduced to kill the rats that
infected cane sugar productions but they’ve also had a continued impact on
the local environments especially ground nesting birds ironically the small
Indian Mongoose didn’t have the desired impact on the populations of black rats
that the locals were hoping for instead they have had a drastic impact on
several local native populations of birds reptiles and amphibians number
four grey squirrels the grey squirrel native to the eastern half of North
America was introduced to Britain in the 1870s as a fashionable addition to
Estate parks the main impact the grey squirrel has is on the population of red
squirrels which are in fact native to countries across Eurasia in 2014 that
were estimated to be approximately 2.5 million grey squirrels in comparison to
only around a hundred to a hundred and fifty thousand red squirrels so how have
the grey squirrels been so successful in decimating the native red squirrels well
not only do they compete amongst one another for territory and resources they
also carry squirrel pox virus which spreads quickly through the red squirrel
populations it got so bad in the UK in 2017 the wildlife trust sought 500,000
new volunteers to monitor numbers record locations educate children and even kill
populations of grey squirrels all we can hope is that they manage to find a
sustainable solution otherwise the UK’s red squirrel population will become a
part of British history number three the common rabbit native to southwestern
Europe and northwest Africa the common European rabbit has been introduced to
numerous environments with only harmful results for native vegetation and
wildlife the first recorded evidence for this species being introduced to a new
ecosystem is from the Roman times when they were introduced to the belly Eric
and Great Britain in more recent times they’ve been introduced to some places
in the Hawaiian Islands islands off the coast of southern Africa Australia and
New Zealand in Australia they have devastated the environment and they are
considered one of the most significant known factors in species loss it’s not
just the environments that the impact they also cost the Australian economy
millions of dollars likewise in Britain roughly 40 million
rabbits cost the economy more than 360 million dollars a year in damages to
crops businesses and infrastructure it’s clear that the rabbit has caused some
pretty bad problems for some of the countries that’s been introduced to but
they are also beloved pets and in the UK alone there are at least 800,000 pet
rabbits so it’s kind of a love-hate relationship but in all they are
definitely one of the most expensive examples of humans introducing species
to new environments number two Africanized bees also known as the
killer bee the Africanized honeybee is a hybrid of Western honeybees which by
itself was originally produced by crossbreeding the African honeybee with
different European honeybees the unexpected result was a meaner more
defensive species of bee that is much more likely to attack something that
they perceive as a threat it’s no surprise then that they are widely
feared by the public contrary to popular belief the sting of the Africanized bee
is not actually more potent than any other honeybee it’s just that they are
more dangerous because they are more easily provoked and when they are
provoked labouring friends lots and lots of friends regardless of their impact on
humans they are considered an invasive species to the Americas where they have
spread from Brazil to Mexico Texas Florida Southern California and numerous
other southern states where they are causing various problems for people and
the environment and let’s face it what’s worse than killer bees number one cane
toads the cane toad is the world’s largest
toad measuring between five and ten centimeters in length native to South
and mainland America this toad has a massive appetite and that’s how it found
its way on this list in the early 20th century its species was introduced to
Queensland Australia in the hope that it would combat the rise in beetle numbers
which were devastating the sugarcane fields this led them to introducing the
cane toad and thanks to the successful introduction of the species in other
parts of the world people thought it would be a good idea to introduce them
to Queensland initially they arranged for about 100 toads to be flown to
Australia and the rest as they say is history now their population numbers
well over 200 million and ecologists are left scratching their heads on exactly
how to get rid of them the problems they cause range from the depletion of the
native species that the toad snack on to the poisoning of pets especially dogs
who unfortunately like to lick toads and eat them as a snack completely unaware
of their poisonous backs there’s no way to know for sure the exact long-term
effects that cane toads will have on the native populations in Australia but one
thing scientists are confident about is that there is no evidence to suggest
that they actually affected the cane meal populations that they were brought
to fight in the first place so what do you think about these invasive species
any in particular you’re familiar with let us know in the comments below and
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take care
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This post was previously published on YouTube.