[HN Gopher] Cane Toads: An Unnatural History (1988)
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Cane Toads: An Unnatural History (1988)
Author : jjgreen
Score : 34 points
Date : 2024-11-12 23:52 UTC (5 days ago)
(HTM) web link (cinemasojourns.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (cinemasojourns.com)
| croisillon wrote:
| for future archeologists wondering about the comments: the post
| title has been changed to "Cane Toads: An Unnatural History" but
| it was originally "What's Your Favorite Invasive Species?"
| dang wrote:
| Yes--the thread was just a shallow/generic* list, which doesn't
| do justice to the interesting article, so we changed the title
| to that of the documentary which the article is mostly about.
| I've swept those earlier comments under the rug
| (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42128515) so we can focus
| on cane toads now!
|
| * a good HN thread is mostly about specifics, not generics:
| https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
| jjgreen wrote:
| Ha, not thought that it might be mistaken for an "Ask HN".
|
| Gribbit.
| dang wrote:
| [stub for offtopicness]
| gregjor wrote:
| Favorites non-native invasive species? I have to say human
| beings. Followed by domestic dogs.
| Clubber wrote:
| FWIW, when researching Virginia Creeper trying to kill my
| trees, I learned that Virginia Creeper isn't invasive because
| it is native, so apparently to be considered an invasive
| plant, it can't be native.
|
| https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/invasives/index.shtml
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenocissus_quinquefolia
| noworriesnate wrote:
| And the definition of native seems to be: it spread there
| through natural processes, which often means predating the
| development of agriculture around 11,000 B.C.
| heraclius1729 wrote:
| Privet. Freakin' privet. I have spent countless hours trying to
| eradicate the descendants of a privet hedge that my great
| grandfather planted a hundred years ago; they've been taking
| over the nearby forest.
|
| Talk about generational trauma.
| The_Blade wrote:
| Kudzu
| billfruit wrote:
| Are air-potatoes an invasive species in the US of A?
| jackmoore wrote:
| Yes, in Florida
| eesmith wrote:
| Horses in the US, which fit into the ecological niche of the
| equidae which died out during the Quaternary extinction event.
| conception wrote:
| Pretty much every tree in San Diego. Kate Sessions basically
| reshaped the entire ecosystem and it turned out pretty good?
| Gormo wrote:
| [flagged]
| aithrowawaycomm wrote:
| We should define "invasive species" to mean "species which
| gets transported to another ecosystem via means beyond its
| control or natural behavior" and therefore exclude humans.
| The _Homo_ genus evolved to be highly migratory and climate-
| adaptable compared to almost all other mammals, and certainly
| compared to other primates. Crossing into Eurasia was a
| natural behavior for _Homo sapiens,_ and something we had in
| common with _erectus_ , though of course we were much more
| successful.
|
| There is a huge biological distinction between human
| migration as a natural behavior of the human animal, versus a
| toad which is deliberately introduced into a distant
| ecosystem via human intervention, or a spider which
| accidentally hitches a ride on a piece of driftwood and
| populates a distant island.
| Gormo wrote:
| > We should define "invasive species" to mean "species
| which gets transported to another ecosystem via means
| beyond its control or natural behavior" and therefore
| exclude humans.
|
| Why?
|
| And what is the fixed reference point that defines
| "natural" behavior in contrast to what I would assume you
| would call "unnatural"? Isn't everything that happens
| within the constraints of the earth's ecosystem by
| definition "natural"?
|
| > or a spider which accidentally hitches a ride on a piece
| of driftwood and populates a distant island.
|
| How and why is that different? If conditions in the natural
| ecosystem result in the spider ending up in the new island,
| and its extant traits prove to be a good match to the
| ecosystem there, resulting in it thriving and reproducing
| extensively, how is that more like the toad and than the
| human?
|
| It seems like you are drawing distinctions based on the
| particular normative ideas that _you_ hold, which are in
| turn both antropocentric at the macro level, and subjective
| to you specifically at the micro. I 'm not sure this
| normative framework is a good analytical model for
| understanding objective reality.
| swayvil wrote:
| Most favorite : Cuckoo Pint
|
| Least favorite : Japanese Stiltgrass
| geraldog wrote:
| Mine is Dioscorea bulbifera
| cjonas wrote:
| Favorite: earthworms
|
| Least favorite: spotted knapweed
| eszed wrote:
| Earthworms are invasive?
|
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthworms_as_invasive_speci.
| ..
|
| TIL. Thank you!
| beretguy wrote:
| Clover
| A_D_E_P_T wrote:
| _Kalanchoe delagoensis_ , the chandelier plant. It's nice to
| look at, tough, supremely prolific, and inedible. A superior
| and extremely sensible form of life. Give it a few million
| years, and it's going to take over. (Jointly with Kudzu and
| Japanese Knotweed.)
| solids wrote:
| Argentinean ant
| AlexandrB wrote:
| European Starling - love their plumage and the massive flocks
| they form in fall.
| api wrote:
| Homo Sapiens of course, everywhere but a few places in Africa.
| We're kind of the ultimate invasive species. We have walked on
| the Moon.
|
| Almost all living humans are colonizers or illegal immigrants
| if you go back far enough.
| PittleyDunkin wrote:
| I think you'll find both concepts, at least in widespread
| use, are fairly novel concepts. Many would define
| colonization as a financial institution, for instance, not
| merely migration or displacement/integration. The
| legalization of immigration is generally a 19th (and
| certainly 20th) century innovation, as it requires overcoming
| significant technological barriers associated with
| identification and centralized bureaucracy.
|
| For instance, my ancestors have lived on this continent for
| almost exactly 400 years. Only one of them came here legally,
| and I don't think any came here illegally.
| crafack wrote:
| Mine is Rosa rugosa.
|
| The mature fruits tastes great as jam, and the seeds is an
| excellent itching powder!
| DrBazza wrote:
| Favourite: rabbits. What did the Romans ever do for us?
|
| Least favourite:
|
| American grey squirrel in the UK killed off most of the UK's
| red squirrels via squirrelpox.
|
| And Green Parakeets are established in quite a few areas of the
| UK as well.
| gmuslera wrote:
| For some definition of favorite, I would go with rabbits.
| kristianp wrote:
| They also became invasive in Australia. Myxomatosis was
| imtroduced to control them.
| jjkaczor wrote:
| "Purple loostrife" (Lythrum salicaria) (in Ontario, Canada)
|
| It is certainly pretty - but I hate it because during college,
| I had a landscaping business with a friend where we had to
| remove it from a swamp...
| physicsguy wrote:
| Himalayan basalm is all over the place by rivers in the U.K...
| its invasive and difficult to remove because in quite a bizarre
| and cool fashion, when it's ready to disperse seeds, it's seed
| pod explodes from actually quite gentle physical contact.
|
| https://youtu.be/XUOEHDRLDFk?si=6ZyxKQR-SxhZcMWt
| world2vec wrote:
| Rose-ringed parakeet (Psittacula krameri) in Portugal, my home
| country. It's very cute and super resilient, no fear of getting
| endangered.
| BitwiseFool wrote:
| >"What's Your Favorite Invasive Species?"
|
| Homo sapiens! Their only natural enemy is themselves.
| arlattimore wrote:
| There is another similar invasive story in Australia to do with
| the prickly pear, introduced with the First Fleet, later spread
| uncontrollably across the country and was subsequently conquered
| using the Cactoblastis Moth.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prickly_pears_in_Australia
|
| These are some of the many reasons why Australia now has very
| stringent biosecurity laws.
| driggs wrote:
| "Cane Toads: An Unnatural History" is an outstanding documentary
| film, and is worth watching even if the topic of invasive toads
| doesn't catch your immediate interest.
|
| This film's approach to presenting the interaction between man
| and toad inspired Hamilton Morris, who used it as a conceptual
| guide when producing his own documentary series. Hamilton
| interviewed director Mark Lewis in podcast #72.
|
| You can find a full copy of "Cane Toads" on YouTube:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkxwrpJg5W0
| aaron695 wrote:
| Great doco.
|
| There's a lot of new lore since the doco, and probably some
| that's been removed... was that guy really getting high by
| boiling them?
|
| You can now get cane toad tadpole pheromone lures -
| https://watergum.org/tadpoletrapping/
|
| > cane toad tadpoles are instinctively drawn to and consume other
| cane toad eggs <> attraction is driven by a specific pheromone
| released by the eggs
|
| How university ethic committees kill a cane toad tadpole -
|
| > Current best practice is the stepped hypothermia which involves
| putting your catch in a container in the fridge, followed by the
| freezer (8 hours in each will do for tadpoles)
|
| There is some delusional thinking going on there I'll leave to
| reader.
|
| [edit] Their trap is a cunt to set-up. Great MVP but someone
| needs to design a floating trap or something.... the sides of a
| dam are not a consistent gentle slop. A great TikTok/Maker
| challenge.
|
| Set-up here - https://imgur.com/a/IVnOMPm
| kristianp wrote:
| I live in Brisbane, QLD and I have seen one frog in the last 8
| years. It's all cane toads now.
|
| Apparently the population of one species of monitor lizard has
| fallen by 90% due to cane toads spreading into their habitat.
|
| [1] Monitor lizards trained not to eat toxic cane toads
| https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35235518
| diptera911 wrote:
| You can buy a cane toad leather hat with croc teeth from famous
| Aussie made Jacaru hat brand.
|
| https://jacaru.com/products/1017-outback?variant=29981911941...
| longitudinal93 wrote:
| A few native birds have developed novel strategies for dealing
| with them. The jabiru will repreatedly drag them through water
| until they've released all their poison before consuming them,
| and the native magpie has learned to flip them on their backs and
| eat them through their stomachs.
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