The exotic pet trade makes for great Instagramming. But people with weird pets
are seriously messing up the environment and costing us millions of dollars in
the process.
Hello, everyone, I'm Trace (as you may know) and today we have a special guest from
Shed Science, Sally Le Page. Hi, Sally. Hello, thanks for having me. Welcome. Every year pet owners are
faced with the dilemma of what to do with unwanted companions. In Boulder,
Colorado, a handful of goldfish were released into a local lake and now there
are thousands of them.
Goldfish are actually carp, like the well-known coy carp. They're native to
Japan
so they've got no natural predators here in the US. They could be carrying viruses
and if they escape lakes and head downstream they could out-compete native
fish, some of which are already threatened. You may think of him as cute
little Mr Bubbles.
What harm could he possibly do? But removing these species costs the government a lot
of money and time, and it's not just our goldfish. In 1890, a fan of William
Shakespeare named Eugene Shefflin wanted to bring the birds from Shakespeare's
works into his home of New York. He released a hundred starlings that are
native to Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia into Central Park. And by 1928,
those 100 beds had bred so much that the population reached the Mississippi
River. By 1942, they had spread all the way to California, forming flocks of as
many as a million hungry birds driving off native species like bluebirds and
woodpeckers. And today there are an estimated 200 million starlings flying
around North America, costing eight hundred million dollars in damage to
agriculture every year and unknown millions in damage to the airline
industry through bird strikes. They even caused a plane crash in 1960.
It's not just the waterways and skies harboring introduced species.
Oh, no, no, no. There are two states which bear the brunt of these animals:
Florida and Hawaii. In a 20-year Florida study, they found 56 different non-native
species completely established in America's favorite little dangly state.
Pythons are a well-known invader
but what about the newest reptilian invader: the Argentine tegu? This
black-and-white lizard is just starting to breed and spread into parts of the
state.
How did it get there? Exotic pet release. Their study found eighty-four percent of
all introduced species in Florida came from exotic pets.
Tegus grow up to four feet in length and lay 35 eggs a year. Once established, they'll
compete with feral cats and dogs, as well as native animals like raccoons.
Florida is also home to wild hogs. Not that better-than-expected John Travolta
movie. No. Literally, wild pigs. Yeah.
The hogs were introduced in the 1500's by the Spanish. But Europeans have their
invaders, too, like the red-eared slider or Terrapin.
It's from the Mississippi Valley but it's been found as far away as Europe and
Asia. The red-eared slider females are larger than most native turtles, so they can
out-eat, out-mate, and out-breed. And apparently most male native turtles like
the larger ladies. And indeed
who wouldn't? You see, bigger females make more eggs, so of course they're more
attractive to the males. As years go by, more and more non-native species get
spread around, even trees. The Norway maple, a beautiful tree, grows so fast and
has such dense shade it displaces native trees, shrubs, and herbs, as well as
flowers, which affects the native forest life. And trees are essential for some
species of forest life, and the Norway maple out-competes native maples for
resources, causing the native tree populations to die and affecting the
animals that live in and around them.
Just don't plant them. But if you aren't into cutting down beautiful maple trees,
even if they are invasive, you could help by getting an environmentally friendly
car.
The new Toyota Mirai is looking to the future with sustainability in mind,
fueled by hydrogen and leaving zero-emissions behind. Now that California
and other southwestern regions are beginning to react to this massive
drought, chances are we'll see more native plants and landscaping that
require less water and are more suited to our habitat. That's probably good.
There are solutions to the drought, but desalination isn't going to do it.
For more on that, check out Julian's video here. "It can only make ten percent
of the county's needs and it'll use a lot of energy because it's forcing
pressurized water through a membrane to separate the water from the salt in a
process called reverse osmosis." And thank you for watching.
Also, you can come find Sally ... where can they come find you? They can come find me on youtube.com
forward slash shedscience
Thanks for coming. Thanks! Bye.