5 Invasive Species We Should Just Let Move Right In
When someone says the phrase “invasive species,” the creature that you imagine is probably not adorable. It’s probably closer to cryptid than kitten in terms of the cute and cuddly scale. The first one I ever learned about was the snakehead fish that plagued the Maryland/Virginia/Washington, D.C. area, and it was pretty much exactly as awful-looking as I thought it would be.
But not all invasive species look like they’ve been pulled from a mad scientist’s lab, and maybe even more surprising, not all invasive species are actually harmful to the environment they invade.
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Here are five invasive species that actually helped out their newfound home…
Aldabra Tortoises
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I know what you’re thinking: How the hell can you be caught unaware by what might be the slowest invasion of all time? In the case of the Aldabra tortoises and an island near Mauritius, they might be an invasive species, but they didn’t invade at all. They were, in fact, placed there on purpose — and for a specific purpose at that. This island had a problem. Its native tortoise species was no more, and because ecosystems are basically natural Rube Goldberg devices, this meant that the tortoises weren’t eating the fruit of the native ebony trees, and their seeds weren’t being sown via tortoise turds.
And so, researchers found a similar tortoise — the Aldabra — and dropped it in like a makeshift fuse for the circuit. The experiment worked, and the whole machine started humming again.
European Green Crabs
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Let’s be clear: European Green Crabs are an extremely unpleasant guest. For one very specific ecosystem in New England, though, they accidentally brought benefits through their wanton violence, like a new, bigger bully transferring to your school and beating up your old bully. They showed up in Cape Cod, where purple marsh crabs had become heavily overpopulated due to a lack of predators, and were leaving marshes barren through erosion and an appetite for the native cordgrass. The European Green Crabs showed up, kicked them all out and now the cordgrass and marshes are recovering.
Yellow Crowned Night Herons
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Like the tortoises, the Yellow Crowned Night Heron, which sounds like the name of something that talks to you after you’ve had too much Benadryl, is an invasive species that was actually invited to its new home. I have to say, it’s lucky that it worked out as well as it did, because this one feels like a much fatter finger on the scale than offering a new type of tortoise some fruit to eat.
The island of Bermuda had a serious crab problem, and this was a pretty one-to-one solution, in that the herons love to eat crabs. It’s the same idea that drives bodega cats, just for a full-on island. Though it seems like something that could easily backfire and create an unapproachable sort of bird military outpost, it worked out, and the herons spread and took care of the crabs. Obviously, there’s now a whole lot of herons there, and whether that’s a problem or not depends on your opinions of birds.
Ivy
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Of course, invasive species aren’t strictly limited to fauna, but include flora as well. There’s one plant that’s famous for covering pretty much anything it can get purchase on, but weirdly, is beloved for the look it bestows the buildings it’s taken over. I’m talking about your classic ivy, which is indeed considered an invasive species. Luckily for ivy that doesn’t want to get blasted with an industrial weed-killer, it also looks positively dashing. It’s all in how you present it, after all. An old school covered in weeds? Sounds like somewhere you get attacked by wild dogs. A historic building dappled with ivy? That’s the library of a college that costs 50 grand a year.
Honeybees
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Honeybees have to be one of the only invasive species that we’re actively trying to save. It’s almost oxymoronic, the idea of an invasive species that’s in danger of extinction. Thanks to human progress, that’s a tightrope the honeybee is now walking, centuries after they invaded America alongside European settlers.
Without them, what will flavor our Honey Nut Cheerios?