Slashdot Mirror
US Invaded By Savage Tick That Sucks Animals Dry, Spawns Without Mating (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: A vicious species of tick originating from Eastern Asia has invaded the U.S. and is rapidly sweeping the Eastern Seaboard, state and federal officials warn. The tick, the Asian longhorned tick (or Haemaphysalis longicornis), has the potential to transmit an assortment of nasty diseases to humans, including an emerging virus that kills up to 30 percent of victims. So far, the tick hasn't been found carrying any diseases in the U.S. It currently poses the largest threat to livestock, pets, and wild animals; the ticks can attack en masse and drain young animals of blood so quickly that they die -- an execution method called exsanguination.
Key to the tick's explosive spread and bloody blitzes is that its invasive populations tend to reproduce asexually, that is, without mating. Females drop up to 2,000 eggs over the course of two or three weeks, quickly giving rise to a ravenous army of clones. In one U.S. population studied so far, experts encountered a massive swarm of the ticks in a single paddock, totaling well into the thousands. They speculated that the population might have a ratio of about one male to 400 females. Yesterday, August 7, Maryland became the eighth state to report the presence of the tick. It followed a similar announcement last Friday, August 3, from Pennsylvania. Other affected states include New York, Arkansas, North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Key to the tick's explosive spread and bloody blitzes is that its invasive populations tend to reproduce asexually, that is, without mating. Females drop up to 2,000 eggs over the course of two or three weeks, quickly giving rise to a ravenous army of clones. In one U.S. population studied so far, experts encountered a massive swarm of the ticks in a single paddock, totaling well into the thousands. They speculated that the population might have a ratio of about one male to 400 females. Yesterday, August 7, Maryland became the eighth state to report the presence of the tick. It followed a similar announcement last Friday, August 3, from Pennsylvania. Other affected states include New York, Arkansas, North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia.
I live in Australia. We have cane toads, rabbits etc which cause huge amounts of damage (we also have this tick). There are other countries that have cane toads, rabbits etc where they do not cause huge amounts of damage. The problem with introducing species is that they don't usually balance the same way they did in their native environments.
Nice try, Vlad.
The sad part that no american ever wants to get, is that both of your "sides" are utterly insane. Not just the Trump side.
The whole concept that you fall for those "us vs them" scenarios like a herd of lemmings again and again, is the thing what makes the USA such a joke nowadays. Not just the things that result from that.
Stop hating your fellow countrymen, would ya? They are just like you! The want happiness too! They just got other assholes telling them what to want. Just like you do.
Get real, throw those damn ideologies out of the window, and judge people only by what you saw with your own eyes,and ith the awareness that there is no such thing as free will. Look beyond the veil of manipulation. Your own too! And you will see a friend!