Not The Grey Variety
September 20, 2007 3:23 AM   Subscribe

 
I am so tired of the immigration debate.
posted by srboisvert at 3:42 AM on September 20, 2007 [3 favorites]


I know exactly what you mean. These guys bring down property values as soon as they move in.
posted by chuckdarwin at 3:48 AM on September 20, 2007


Fear the evil aliens. The goat, the cat and the dreadful, dreadful rabbit.

Do you Americans want Kangaroos? They're really pretty neat. Someone should introduce them there and in Africa, and somewhere in Eurasia.
posted by sien at 3:50 AM on September 20, 2007


I don't know; can you lock them in a little cage so they're really tender? VEAL KANGAROOS!

They'd sell. I'm sure of it.
posted by chuckdarwin at 3:55 AM on September 20, 2007


I know exactly what you mean.

Uh, no you don't. I am a giant snail.
posted by srboisvert at 3:56 AM on September 20, 2007 [2 favorites]


Kangaroos? Send us koalas.
posted by kingfisher, his musclebound cat at 4:15 AM on September 20, 2007


Koalas are actually rather shy and unfriendly. I'd prefer kangaroos, thanks.
posted by needs more cowbell at 4:32 AM on September 20, 2007


I'm a little disappointed by this post.

No one even mentions the Mars Invaders, Body Snatchers,
Independence Day aliens. Now those were some real scary invasive alien species.
posted by Chocomog at 4:34 AM on September 20, 2007


They forgot the worst one of all - homo something.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:47 AM on September 20, 2007 [1 favorite]


This is an awesome picture.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:56 AM on September 20, 2007




Hmm, yes, a quick scan of the list and I see all these:

Mimosa pigra
Rattus rattus
Mus musculus
Sus scrofa
Vulpes vulpes
Bufo marinus
Eichhornia crassipes
Imperata cylindrica
Lantana camara


That we have around here. I'm sure we've got more of them too, if I was more thorough.
posted by Jimbob at 5:00 AM on September 20, 2007


Couldn't see carp or cane toads mentioned though.
posted by kisch mokusch at 5:09 AM on September 20, 2007


Hmm? They're both there, kisch mokusch. Bufo marinus and Cyprinus carpio .
posted by Jimbob at 5:16 AM on September 20, 2007


Well I'll be damned. I knew Mosquito Fish seemed too good to be true.
posted by redteam at 5:48 AM on September 20, 2007


Screw the koalas. What the US needs is kookaburras. Oh, and some gum trees.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:59 AM on September 20, 2007


Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree...
posted by pracowity at 6:02 AM on September 20, 2007


Kookaburra sits on the telephone wire...

Screw the koalas. What the US needs is kookaburras. Oh, and some gum trees.

Well I understand you do have some gum trees, but more importantly you have our paperbarks taking over your swamps down in Florida. About time we exported one of our species to do damage somewhere else...
posted by Jimbob at 6:06 AM on September 20, 2007


Obviously, this list was compiled by Tribbles to throw us all off the scent.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 6:10 AM on September 20, 2007


Do you Americans want Kangaroos? They're really pretty neat.

Derbyshire's feral wallabies.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 6:25 AM on September 20, 2007


Is kudzu mentioned? Because kudzu is terrifying.
posted by Anonymous at 6:53 AM on September 20, 2007


Well I understand you do have some gum trees, but more importantly you have our paperbarks taking over your swamps down in Florida. About time we exported one of our species to do damage somewhere else...

Bleaurgh. We don't want 'em. Those damn trees (we call them melaleuca trees here) just cannot die. They propagate themselves faster than any human effort can get rid of them. They are a menace, and, to make it even worse, completely useless for anything other than sucking up water.

My understanding is that early developers brought them in to dry the whole of south Florida, in an effort to convert the vast Everglades into one giant swath of nice dry buildable land. Thank goodness that never happened to the extent that they hoped it would. However the legacy of the melaleuca lives on, to taunt us all.
posted by contessa at 6:54 AM on September 20, 2007


jimbob: it's on the list of the 100 worst from the first link, too.
posted by contessa at 6:56 AM on September 20, 2007


Ivy (Hedera helix) is on the list. I've always been a little suspicious of the so-called 'Ivy League'.
posted by pracowity at 7:06 AM on September 20, 2007


For my Environmental Ethics class, I spent about 12 hours last week clearing invasive species from a local nature conservancy. Honeysuckle's some rough shit.
posted by Pope Guilty at 7:15 AM on September 20, 2007


Two words for you: Bam. Boo.
posted by Mister_A at 7:25 AM on September 20, 2007


Unless I missed it, there was a link to a site that mentions the feral cat, but no link to their own overall list of 95 sepecies.

It has some interesting entries such as a mute swan and, as Kirth Gerson mentioned here, humans.
posted by eye of newt at 8:12 AM on September 20, 2007


Oh man, don't get me started on the damn tiger mosquitoes. I remember in the 1980s here in Texas that mosquitoes were only something that came out during the evening hours. I'd like to find out who imported those tires into Houston (or who shipped them) and wring their necks.
posted by antipasta_explosion at 8:23 AM on September 20, 2007


Goddamn melaleuca. It likes when you try to burn it.
posted by casarkos at 8:25 AM on September 20, 2007 [2 favorites]


Kudzu sometimes eats babies.
posted by shakespeherian at 9:15 AM on September 20, 2007


Once as a kid in Alabama, I rode my bike down to a little pond where we used to skinny dip and I leaned my bike against a pole next to a kudzu covered field. I swam for a while and then went back to my bike only to discover that the kudzu had already consumed it.
posted by Pollomacho at 9:25 AM on September 20, 2007 [1 favorite]


I confess to being slightly proud of Australia's menacing flora. Our fauna (modulo snakes & spiders) are a bunch of fuzzy evolutionary throwbacks that get their arses kicked by housecats, but the plants are mostly death with leaves on.
posted by zamboni at 9:30 AM on September 20, 2007


zamboni, you're only adding more data to my nascent theory that everything from Australia is either invasive or poisonous. Or both, as in the case of backpackers.
posted by contessa at 9:40 AM on September 20, 2007 [1 favorite]




What? No Klingons?
posted by triolus at 11:20 AM on September 20, 2007


No honeysuckle listed in the top 100. Huh.

This one for the win, though:

On the Galapagos, it eats the hatchlings of tortoises and attacks the eyes and cloacae of the adult tortoises. It is considered to be perhaps the greatest ant species threat in the Pacific.

Little fire ant.
posted by Tehanu at 11:34 AM on September 20, 2007


Felis Catus... damn, I was invaded by two of those 12 years ago, and I still can't get rid of them!

The house cat (Felis catus) was domesticated in the eastern Mediterranean c. 3000 years ago. Considering the extent to which cats are valued as pets, it is not surprising that they have since been translocated by humans to almost all parts of the world. Notable predators, cats threaten native birdlife and other fauna, especially in island groups such as those found in the Pacific.

And I'm with you on the kudzu, Jimbob. Scary as fuck.
posted by kimdog at 11:41 AM on September 20, 2007


Grrrrrrrrrrrr.
posted by rusty at 12:25 PM on September 20, 2007


Hmm? They're both there, kisch mokusch. Bufo marinus and Cyprinus carpio .

I did read through the list, I swear! I don't know how I missed them (although that list doesn't always mention which countries are being affected, I guess I was looking for mentions of Australia).
posted by kisch mokusch at 2:06 PM on September 20, 2007


Cool. Lessee. In my neck of the woods, the San Francisco Bay Area and the California North Coast, we've got Arundo, jubata grass (which they don't list), spartina, gorse, and a whole lot more.

Oh, here's a cool site to ID North American invasives. Also, even if you live somewhere else, check out the California Weed-Workers* Handbook.

*No, not that kind of California weed.
posted by salvia at 5:51 PM on September 20, 2007


No god damned Eucalyptus huh.
posted by BrotherCaine at 2:08 AM on September 21, 2007


Kudzu sometimes eats babies.

Slowly, when the kids are too young to crawl fast. Parents, keep an eye out. In fact, once, on a field trip in a slow bus...
posted by Tehanu at 2:32 PM on September 21, 2007


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