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Giant Predatory Worms Are Invading France (qz.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Quartz: In a Peer J study published on May 22, "Giant worms chez moi!" zoologist Jean-Lou Justine of the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, entomologist colleagues, and Pierre Gros, outline a discovery that "highlights an unexpected blind spot of scientists and authorities facing an invasion by conspicuous large invasive animals." About 100 citizen scientists ultimately contributed to the assessment of this alien invasion, identifying five giant predatory worm species in France that grow up to 10 inches long. The study relied on contributors' worm sightings, reported "mainly by email, sometimes by telephone." Researchers requested photographs and details about locality. In 2013, the Washington Post reports, "a group of terrorized kindergartners claimed they saw a mass of writhing snakes in their play field." These were giant flatworms! The study concludes that the alien creatures appear to reproduce asexually. They prey on other, smaller earthworms, stunning them with toxins. "The planarian also produces secretions from its headplate and body that adhere it to the prey, despite often sudden violent movements of the latter during this stage of capture," researcher note. In other words, the hammerheads produce a substance that allows them to stick to victims while killing them. The study points out that invasive alien flatworms have been spotted in New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Brazil, and Australia. But the five species of hammerhead flatworms invading France are giants, growing up to 27 centimeters.

6 of 250 comments (clear)

  1. Re:On news of the invasion, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    White flags broke out across the country.

    France has fought a hell of a lot more wars than America and they didn't hang back in either WW1 or WW2.

  2. Re:On news of the invasion, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Stop talking crap and trying to rewrite history.

    America was actively working WITH the Germans until it got forced in to the war (thanks mostly to the Japanese).
    US companies were supplying Germany with war materials, helping run factories, and supplying critical fuel additives.

    Once the tables were turning (mostly thanks to the Russians, and the russian weather..) the Americans certainly
    got involved..

    No one says American help was not needed, but it is VERY interesting just how long it took to arrive...
    And no, America didnt 'Invade Europe' either, they were involved, but most certainly not single handed.

    So why dont you just Fuck Off already.
    I wonder just how well The NAZIs would have done without US fuel (specifically TEL addititives) and US trucks for their troop movements..

    The US was reluctantly working with England with the lend/lease program. Not Germany. And to be fair, Russia needs due credit for the lives lost to defeat Germany. They suffered more than almost any other country.

  3. Re:There are predatory things invading France by Z80a · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Not really.
    They can come in all colors, as long they follow the same book that tell em to remove all the rest.

  4. Re:There are predatory things invading France by ScentCone · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Hey! Look! Another liberal that's too dumb to understand that skin color and culture aren't the same thing. Poor, dumb liberals. Worst racists there are.

    --
    Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
  5. Re:There are predatory things invading France by butzwonker · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Alas, the people who complain the most about other cultures tend to have the least of it on their own. Many of them don't even read novels. It's a sad truth that you can see that everywhere.

    In contrast to that, the people who actually produce and advance culture, who write books and poems, who compose music, create fine arts, and make movies have almost without exception always been international cosmopolitans. Many of them have lived in different countries during their life, and the vast majority are very tolerant. Goethe's travel diaries are a good example of that attitude, for instance, and since we're talking about France it is also worth mentioning that Alexandre Dumas was the son of a French nobleman and a black slave from Haiti.

    The moral of the story is that before even starting to think about complaining about other people's cultures, you should make damn sure that you have some of your own first.

  6. Re:Sauteed in butter? by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Nope :-(

    Giant predatory worms invaded France, but scientists just noticed them:

    What they lack in physical defenses, they make up in a cocktail of disgusting bodily juices. A colleague once tried to put a flatworm in his mouth, Justine recounted. The man still describes it as “one of the worst experiences of his life.”

    Sounds like French food to me!

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch