Possumbilities

Today the ISW adds a new entry to the "make lemons from lemonade" section of invasive species management: entrepreneurs in New Zealand making fur products out of the invasive brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula). The possums, introduced from Australia back in the 1800s, are now so numerous on New Zealand that "designers who use their fur are seen as national heroes" (hah!).

The full story is in The Independent. It's worth a read just to laugh at the thought of fashionistas using possum fur as a substitute for polar bear fur (!!) and wearing lime green possum fur bikinis and other unmentionables (NSFW link here if you must see). I guess it's better than the broad-spectrum poisons sometime employed to control the animals, but let's be real: it's called the fur industry for a reason. The majority of designers are doing this to make money, not to eradicate the possums...even if they are calling it "eco fur." Note also this article (.pdf) in an ecological journal from 1982, recognizing the risk of "crashing the market" by overharvesting and hypothesizing about maintaining a sustainable harvest.

Thanks to biosparite for sending in a link to the article, and to monopolist for coming up with the title.

Made in Japan

Last month Japan came out with the country's first official list of invasive species. Problem (for me anyway) was that although there were some English-language articles about the list, there were no sources that actually included the list itself. Thanks to the magic of email and the ugliness of HTML-rendered Excel, I now bring you the official list of invasive species in Japan:

Mammalia:	Mammals:
Macaca cyclopis	Formosan rock macaque
Macaca fascicularis	long-tailed macaque
Macaca mulatta	rhesus monkey
Procyon lotor	Northern raccoon
Procyon cancrivorus	crab-eating raccoon
Herpestes javanicus	Indian mongoose
Callosciurus erythraeus	Pallas squirrel
Sciurus carolinensis	Eastern grey squirrel
Myocastor coypus	nutria
Trichosurus vulpecula	brushtail possum
Muntiacus reevesi	Muntjac deer
Aves:	Birds:
Garrulax canorus	hwamei
Garrulax perspicillatus	masked laughingthrush
Garrulax sannio	white-browed laughingthrush
Leiothrix lutea	red-billed leiothrix
Reptilia:	Reptiles:
Chelydra serpentina	snapping turtle
Anolis carolinensis	green anole
Anolis sagrei	brown anole
Boiga irregularis	brown tree snake
Elaphe taeniura friesi	Taiwan beauty snake
Protobothrops mucrosquamatus	Taiwan habu snake
Amphibia:	Amphibians:
Bufo marinus	cane toad
Pisces:	Fish:
Micropterus dolomieu	smallmouth bass
Lepomis macrochirus	bluegill
Ictalurus punctatus	channel catfish
Insecta:	Insects:
Solenopsis invicta	red imported fire ant
Solenopsis geminata	fire ant
Linepithema humile	Argentine ant
Invertebrata:	Arachnids:
Latrodectus hasseltii	redback spider
Latrodectus geometricus	brown widow spider
Latrodectus tredecimguttatus	black widow spider
Latrodectus mactans	black widow spider
Loxosceles - 2 species	recluse/violin spiders
Dipluridae - 2 genera	giant spiders
Buthidae - all species	scorpions
Tracheophyta:	Aquatic plants:
Alternanthera philoxeroides	alligator weed
Hydrocotyle ranunculoides	floating pennywort
Gymnocoronis spilanthoides	Senegal tea

(Thanks to T. Yoshioka for being so kind as to provide me with the list of scientific names.)

No Playing with Possums

As of July 11, 2002, the U.S. has officially banned the importation of the Brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula). This marsupial, native to Australia, was introduced to New Zealand during an attempt at establishing a fur trade. New Zealand is now overrun with the creatures, and the U.S. wants to avoid the same thing happening here. Over the past decade, there have only been a few reported imports of the species into the U.S., where Brushtail possums are sometimes kept as pets. Because they can carry Bovine tuberculosis (Mycobacterium spp.), feral Brushtail possums would be a major threat to U.S. agriculture.