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Aussies Could Use Elephants To Fight Invasive Species
A type of invasive African grass is a major cause of wildfires in Australia. The giant gamba grass is too large for cattle and the native marsupial grazers to eat, but David Bowman, a professor of environmental change biology at the University of Tasmania has a plan. He says that elephants or rhinoceroses could eat the pest grass. "... the only other methods likely to control gamba grass involve using chemicals or physically clearing the land, which would destroy the habitat. Using mega-herbivores may ultimately be more practical and cost-effective, and it would help to conserve animals that are threatened by poaching in their native environments," he said. This plan makes you wonder just how big a Chinese needle snake can grow.
...the Elephants simply starve to death.
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
But who will eat the elephants when they become invasive?
Perhaps we'll die...
So there was this fence that was supposed to prevent the plague of rabbits from crossing the country. I don't think it worked. I'm having this vision of a future with an Elephant proof fence. Somehow the idea appeals.
This is why I put a mongoose in my mailbox to get rid of the snakes. Now if I could only figure out why I have snakes in my mailbox.
It'll be cane toads all over again ...
How about cutting and baling the grass? Process it for feed or fuel. Use it in lieu of paper in insulating concrete.Maybe the Aborigines can find a use for it. Once you've mown it and can access the roots, THEN whip out a jug of Roundup. What really is the problem here? Lack of imagination? Will it distill into alcohol with a bit of sugar? Is there an industrial furnace powering anything anywhere near? Are we really scared of the mean ol zombie grass slowly moving this way? I think someone just wants to be a drama queen about this....
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
Ammm... we tried this before with Cane Toads... that didn't work out so well. At least elephants are cuter (and tastier).
yes rabbits would be a good idea. They are smaller and cuter than elephants and they eat grass as well...
I love stacking my barbecues in the shed at the end of summer - you can't beat a bit of grill on grill action.
From here [PDF].
The elephants can be used to stomp on the caine toads.
-- Wiccan Army, 13th Airborne Division "We will not fly silently into the night"
[...]they're not exactly small and hard to spot. [...]
If they wear red socks, and hide in a strawberry patch, they're quite hard to spot!
Bringing in one species to eliminate another tends to result in the newly introduced species becoming the invasive one.
---------
There is inferior bacteria on the interior of your posterior.
But, who will eat the elephants ?
I thought the whole "Got a problem with invasive species x? Import invasive species y!" schtick had gone wrong so many times over the years that there would be more caution about it now.
What are they going to import in 30 years time to deal with the plague of elephants? My vote's for genetically modified, cybernetically enhanced fire-breating giant battle-centipedes. What could possibly go wrong?
Or maybe the attraction is that elephants can actually be extremely dangerous to humans. Australia just doesn't have enough animals like that, right?
with lasers!
Rather then fill the outback with yet another untested and likely useless species. Why don't they just put more people out there?
Build a few more cities or towns... expand... tame the wilderness. If people actually live out there then any undesired species isn't going to last very long.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
Except that I don't think it would be too hard to control, or even wipe out, the elephants. They are not little critters that hide in holes, and they have a slow reproductive rate, unlike rabbits which breed...
Consciousness is an illusion caused by an excess of self consciousness.
There is a natural, indiginous, carbon-neutral, fast, effective, efficient, cheap and fun way of dealing with this problem: Set fire to it.
...I'm sure that gamba grass itself seemed harmless too when it was introduced to Australia as a pasture grass. Then there were Cane Toads, (also in Australia), Kudzu, and countless other examples.
Given man's mobility and restlessness such occurrences are probably inevitable. At least this time the assertion that "this introduction could solve that problem" was accompanied by a note that careful monitoring would be required. So there's some effort being made to anticipate and mitigate the potential negative consequences of their solutions, but I suspect that effort could be both more strenuous and more anticipatory.
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
I mean, Elephants are f***ing awesome and all, big, giant things that knock over trees when they get mad, but goats are well proven to eat grass and other things (like briers) that most animals won't touch. They handle dry, arid climates well, and provide other useful things like, Milk, Cheese, Meat, and Pelts. If you pick angora goats you get fancy wool from them as well.
Granted, you don't have the cool factor of big-ass elephants running around loose Down Under, but goats reproduce a lot faster and (I'm pretty sure) eat a higher percentage of their body weight in plant matter than elephants do. Humans also have a couple thousand years more experience dealing with goats.
Some links to persue:
moox. for a new generation.
No. It is fricking HUGE. Bigger than several European countries. There are single *properties* here are bigger than some countries.
So, when someone here says 'we have a widespread problem' - start thinking 'a problem the size of a several US states' ...
Actually, the elephant idea is quite good.
As for the other suggestion.. no. The aboriginals have no use for it.. or anything really. They drink^Wget their blood^Wdole money and are buggered^Whappy .. no use for the grass at all.. well, not this type of Grass anyway
The elephants will certainly keep Australia free of the dangerously invasive BURNING DUCKS.
Just speculating but... would Australian law enforcement (and cultural attitudes) be more conducive to the prevention of poaching? If so, then it might be a good location for an animal refuge for some critically endangered species.
Elephants are very far from endangered in Southern Africa. There are way too many of them, to the extent that their numbers have to be actively controlled by culling entire herds. Elephants are dangerous and cause huge amounts of damage.
On the other hand, black rhinos are being poached at an alarming rate, and they are on the brink of destruction. Australia is probably a much, much safer place for them -- so the Aussies should import as many of them as possible!
Didn't he fly to Jupiter together with an psychopatic supercomputer?
Whenever he asked a cow or native marsupial about eating the grass, they replied:
"I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that."
Well, water for a start
Right now there are land developers desperate to add new suburbs to several small towns.. but those towns are already stressed for water.. and in QLD they are now *under* water. Go figure.
Around here, it's either so dry and parched that we literally can't support more people without lots of pipes (been done, wikipedia snowy mountains scheme if you are interested) or the place is flooded.
It's a good idea.. but seriously. the outback isn't a place most people want to live.
Let's put it like this. We have a problem right now that people on the other side of the world pay lots of money to get on a leaky boat to come here.
A suggestion for fixing this problem is to open the gates. Come right in. Anyone from a war torn country, middle east, wherever, come on over if you can get yourself here. Only catch: You must spend the first 15 years here in a rural outback town or property and not come within 200km of a city.
It's thought to be the best way to 'solve' the country shopper / boat people / illegal immigrant problem.
After 1 week in the outback.. you'd fully understand why.
However, if you don't quite understand, try this:
In the middle of summer, go live on your roof for a week, take 1L of water with you, to last the week, and 4 boxes of plain muesli bars and a big hat.
Some things you just have to experience for yourself to understand.
Good luck getting a Rhino population in Oz, that close to Chinese borders they'd be shot and de-horned before they've made it out of the container.
Can that grass be smoked? :o
As an inhabitant of the Australian sub-continent, I for one welcome our new elephant overlords!
oh wait...
They can hide upside-down in a bowl of custard (the French will not understand this.)
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
This will result in an army of super paranoid Elephants. Great tourist attraction the least.
How do you get the elephants through customs?
... the elephant in the room!
what could possibly go wrong with introducing a new animal species into a habitat it doesn't belong. I mean look how well the plants did when put there.
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
What if we uplift the elephants, give them some kind of manipulative digits (trunk fingers?) and then tell them to do no evil? That'll work, right?
I drank what? -- Socrates
Because they will only eat the invasive grass, and it won't be spread by their feces... This can only be beneficial. I can't see how these animals could possibly cause any other problems or upset the ecosystem in any way... Friggin idiots. This is precisely why I will never visit Australia. Man, and I thought Americans were dumb...
Definitely. We could make them work in factories, fed only on gamba grass, and exploit them while we live in luxury... What could possibly go wrong with ten-ton intelligent slaves?
Consciousness is an illusion caused by an excess of self consciousness.
Throw another elephant on the barbie mate!
I only look human.
My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
Isn't this how Daffy Duck ran his hotel?
Except for ending slavery, the Nazis, communism, & securing American independence, war has never solved anything.
The best example of a large animal being introduced into a new area is the oryx that were introduced into white sands missile range. Having no natural predators due to the thick hide on the back of their neck that the mountain lions can't penetrate easily and their long horns they have had no problem breeding going from 93 in 1977 to over 2,000 today. They put a strain on the natural wildlife, the jackrabbits and mule deer, by eating and drinking the scarce resources limiting their numbers and also hurting the mountain lion population by limiting their food sources. The oryx have flourished and have moved well beyond the missile range so much so that the NM Game and Fish began giving out Landowner permits in an effort to keep them in the missile range which has failed and oryx have moved north to Sevilleta Wildlife Refuge and south all the way to Fort Bliss. Approximately a 100 mile radius around the range with little to stop them from moving further the southwest has a new animal that is here to stay.
Knowledge = Power
P= W/t
t=Money
Money = Work/Knowledge so the less you know the more you make
So far that i know.
Rabbits were accidentally introduced into Australia by farmers ( having no predators) they thumped like rabbits.
cats were introduced to to control the rabbits , but like native birds better.
dogs were introduced to try and control the cats ( dingo's prefer kangaroo though).
not sure how the invasive toad species that are all over got there.
i think people still go out with bats and gulf clubs to kill rabbits ( they should export the meat , but i believe right now burn it)
Why would an elephant eat the tough grass first , why not the sweet tender native stuff and leave the tough grass alone until all the tender sweet stuff is gone?
âoeTolerance applies only to persons, but never to truth. Intolerance applies only to truth, but never to persons.
In Australia, everything is poisonous and will kill you. Plants? Yes. Spiders? Yes. Frogs? Yes. Platypi? Yes.
More introduced species in australia.
I cant help thinking of that simpsons episode with the lizard, which ate the pidgeon, and they got out of control, so they brang in something else.. etc etc...
This is already what Australia is like. Someone brang in rabbits, cane toads, snakes, etc etc... then they brang in something else to combat such things... the only thing ends up suffering in the long run is the native wild life and our ecosystem as a whole.
Australian researchers (or anyone) should be shot in the head when they do the following:
1) consider introducing a new species of anything to this country
2) consider modifying an existing species DNA and introducing that into the country.
I have faith in science, but morons are morons. Anyone who cant learn from the mistakes of the past needs to be locked up or put down so they cant do any damage - they really are cretins. Oh, "but we know more now?" ... your a moron if you actually believe you understand an ecosystem well enough that you can predict the implications of adding a new species of anything to it, being able to control it in the long run or actually measure whats going on when it does get into your ecosystem.
Your an even bigger moron if you think you'll have a endless pit of money from either the government or some other body that will allow you to have the kind of control you need to police such a move for the foreseeable future.
I really wish people like this professor would just cease to exist, they're bad for the planet and our species as a whole. I dont mind if they sit there researching the crap out of anything, but until they can prove they actually understand an eco system in its entirety and the government gets behind them with such a huge wad of cash they can prove they'll have the ability to remain in control, they should be locked in a cage somewhere.
You can just already see the future of something like this:
"turns out that elephant feases combine with a local australian-only plant to produce a toxic substance that is now leaching into our water supply - we must now evacuate australia - thanks for coming".... and then much later from the same professor "oh, we didnt quite take that into account".
Aussies Could Use Elephants To Fight Invasive Species
And I'm glad someone will stomp on those MPAA and RIAA and their bills!!
As pointed out- elephants numbers are easily controlled due to their size. I would like to suggest we one up the elephant suggestion- and go for an even bigger animal- I would suggest the blue whale.
Yes, I know- technically the blue whale is an aquatic animal- but they can breath air. We could create artificial limbs for them- attack fake legs to their flippers and their tails to allow them to walk on land.
Since any young born would not be able to move- (hence eat), without human intervention, you wouldn't have to worry about their numbers exploding out of control.
To me- this seems a near perfect solution. The only problem is that whales don't eat grass- but that's only a minor technicality- and you have to admit whales with artificial tripod limbs crossing the desert of Australia is a site worth one or two minor technical glitches.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
If global warming is the first part to be seen of the sinister master plan to turn the whole world into a gigantic version of Australia.
SKINNER
Well, I was wrong. The lizards are a godsend.
LISA
But isn't that a bit short-sighted? What happens when we're overrun by lizards?
SKINNER
No problem. We simply unleash wave after wave of Chinese needle snakes. They'll wipe out the lizards.
LISA
But aren't the snakes even worse?
SKINNER
Yes, but we're prepared for that. We've lined up a fabulous type of gorilla that thrives on snake meat.
LISA
But then we're stuck with gorillas!
SKINNER
No, that's the beautiful part. When wintertime rolls around, the gorillas simply freeze to death.
Can anyone tell me how to set my sig on Slashdot?
they'll have a sit-in protest, on top of us and our cars!
Q: What do you get if you cross an elephant with a rhino?
A: Elifino (hell-if-i-know)
Take all you want!
That is all.
Man, I don't know if I like the idea of an astronaut dealing with ecology here on Earth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bowman_(Space_Odyssey))
Hey, you have a sentient bad, bad computer to deal with, sir!!
Couldn't be worse than humans.
i've never heard of introducing foreign critters like this that didn't cause more problems...and for some reason people keep doing it. however, i think this might work. elephants are so large, it should be possible to keep track of them all and control their population numbers.
Aussies could use genetically modified super lions to fight the invasive elephant overpopulation problem.
Gee. Why not wait? Surely according to Darwinian theory, those kangaroos will evolve to be giant griaffe sized herbivores and eat the big grass. It's only a matter of time.....
Don't be apathetic. Procrastinate!
Native Elephants of course.
We don't believe in radical loony monotheistic religions from the middle east -- we're Christians.
I was thinking this could be ground zero for the resurgence of the woolly mammoth.
What if we gave them three trunks and a Japanese schoolgirl?
I can see the minister for commerce's eyes glistening at the thought a new industry!
Funny definition of "working" you have there.
I suppose Germany won WW2. After all, they booted the British off the continent in 1940 and were knocking on the gates of Moscow a year later.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Just wait. Let them keep on like this and when you start seeing oryx taking our jobs and putting their kids into our schools, you'll know the whole thing's gone terribly wrong.