Monday, January 14, 2013

Alien Invasions

Creatures not in their very own natural habitat usually as a result have no natural enemies. All other things being equal, if those creatures find themselves in an atmosphere/environment that does not threaten their existence, they will thrive. They will discover what they can consume, and they will compete with the other creatures whose habitat the new environment is, for available food. 

Sometimes the new creatures are of a size and voracious appetite as to triumph over native species in food choices; the more aggressive, the more adaptable, the more ravenous and insatiable the creature is, the more chances it will succeed in successfully challenging the life and life-cycle of native species. The native species may find themselves too challenged and begin an agonizing decline.

And the foreign invaders thrive at the expense of the native species. Amazingly, the Florida Everglades, a large swampy area, as a region of subtropical wetlands in the southern portion of the State of Florida comprises the southern half of a large watershed. It is home to a large number of  native creatures from alligators to waterbirds. And snakes. Native species of snakes.


Everglades
 
However, it is the large exotic, non-native species that constitute a problem. And the problem is huge. Florida has become home to more exotic species of amphibians and reptiles than any other such area existing on the Globe. And most of them have been illegally introduced to the Everglades. Like the Burmese pythons. Whose enormous size and appetite introduce utter havoc to nature's order. 
 

TV crews pet and take photos as Capt. Jeff Fobb from the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue's Venom Response Unit, holds a python during the kick-off ceremonies for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's month-long "Python Challenge" in Davie, Fla. on Saturday, Jan. 12, 2013. The 13-foot reptile was captured in a backyard swimming pool in 2012.   
J Pat Carter/AP   TV crews capture Capt. Jeff Fobb of the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue's Venom Response Unit as he holds a python during the kick-off ceremonies Saturday for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's month-long 'Python Challenge.'

In a desperate attempt to rid themselves of the presence of these serpents disrupting the environment, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission  and the state are offering cash prizes to those who capture the longest python, as well as those who collect the greatest numbers of pythons, in a "Python Challenge" competition that ends at midnight on February 10.

Sad for the pythons whose fault it is not that they have invaded a geography not their own. But the infestation is intolerably inimical to the natural structure of the Everglades and the native creatures that nature intended to inhabit it.

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posted by Pieface @ Monday, January 14, 2013

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