Nutria-palooza!

This November, Brooklyn fashion designers and musicians are teaming up for Nutria-palooza!, a nutria-themed fashion show set to music. The show will feature clothing and jewelry made using the invasive rodent known as Nutria or "coypu" (Myocastor coypus), and at least one band will participate by wearing what they're calling "nutria-gangster" outfits.

Gray Area

A new study just out in the Journal of Ornithology says that contrary to current thinking, American gray squirrels are actually not linked to the population declines of most native woodland bird species in England. BBC News has the story.

Meat The Squirrels

More on the squirrel-eatin' Brits, this time from The Colbert Report. Previous ISW squirrel-eatin' Brit coverage here.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Squirrel?

Britain is apparently trying to eat its way out of a grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) invasion, according to this report from the New York Times. Squirrel has become a very trendy option at butcheries, and restaurants have been serving up such dishes as "Squirrel, Peking Duck-style" and, of course, Squirrel Pasties. As the interest in cooking and eating gray squirrel in the UK appears to be driven by popular culture, the movement is not likely to contribute to its eradication, but may perhaps raise awareness about this invasive species.

If this kind of cookery piques your interest, you'll want to click over to the NYT's companion article about preparing squirrel.

Tip of the virtual hat to Michael K. for sending in a link to this story. Original of the photo above by law_keven via Flickr (CC-licensed)

Guinea Pig Revolution

As a nice followup to Sunday's post about feral guinea pigs (Cavia spp.) in Hawaii, Andrew B. sends in this article about feral guinea pigs in New Zealand. This time, a Kiwi couple has claimed responsibility for intentionally releasing the cavies into an island park, calling themselves "Freedom Lovers." Luckily, there were only four guinea pigs released, and they have all been recaptured.

Pet Project

The Honolulu Advertiser is reporting that feral guinea pigs (Cavia spp.) are on the run on the Hawaiian island of O'ahu. Yes, that's right, guinea pigs, not hogs! Over the past two months more than 40 of the portly little pets have been caught roaming residential neighborhoods in Nu'uanu. Agriculture officials suspect the feral rodents, also known as "cavies," are the result of an accidental or intentional release by an errant pet owner, and are advising anyone with thoughts of releasing guinea pigs (or any other pets) into the wild to contact their local Humane Society instead.

Thanks to a member of the ALIENS-L listserver for posting a link to this story.

Feed And Bane

The Gresham Outlook is reporting that nutria populations in the state of Oregon are surviving in part due to the kindness of strangers. In at least one particular pond, featured in the article, a dozen of the invasive rodents (Myocastor coypus) can be seen rushing to the shore whenever people walk by, expecting to get fed. Officials in the city of Gresham are hoping to curb this bad habit by placing signs warning folks not to feed the nutria. The city, faced with an ongoing nutria incursion, has determined that it is unable to bear the cost of trapping nutria to get rid of them, but is willing to point residents in the direction of trappers for hire that can do the job.

Weekend Blog Blogging

The past few weeks in invasive species-related posts, from around the blogosphere:

• Paul at The force that through... posts about a Brazilian pepper bush (Schinus terebinthifolius) he found at Disney World.
• A Snail's Eye View has an interesting post about the invasive white snail (Theba pisana) threatening agricultural crops in Australia.
• Speaking of snails (who knew there were so many snail-related blogs?), A Snail's Tale posts about some interspecific competition between cats and rats on an island off the coast of New Zealand.
• Butterflies of Singapore has some excellent photos of a lovely painted lady (Vanessa cardui). While the species has ac osmopolitan distribution (thanks chelydra), BoS questions whether the discovered specimens were bred and released, or perhaps escapees.
• Politician Glyn Davies has a View from Rural Wales, and that view is filled with invasive American grey squirrels.

Red Alert, Indeed!

The Scotsman is reporting that Britain has authorized the release of more than 250 grey squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) into the wild over the past two years. Given that the grey squirrel is an American species tied to the decline of the UK's native red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris), this recent revelation has some environmental groups scratching their heads in amazement.

Unfortunately the article does not provide any information about why the animals were released, or even why they were captured in the first place (probably caught chewing on power lines somewhere ;-))...so for more on the story, head over to the European Squirrel Initiative's news page, where they note that the British government deemed the release of "rehabilitated" grey squirrels okay given that the number they were permitting to be released was tiny in proportion to the number that already exist in the wild, and that they weren't allowing the greys to be released in areas that reds are known to still inhabit.

Animal rights groups in Scotland, where grey squirrels are routinely hunted down and euthanized, are now recommending that all Scottish greys be sent over to England, with one spokesperson noting that

"We don't believe it is acceptable to kill one species of squirrel in an attempt to try to conserve populations of another species of squirrel"

There do appear to be regulations in place to prevent such a transfer from occurring, but they are specifically related to the potential spread of disease.

Weekend Blog Blogging

The past week in invasive species blogging, elsewhere on the net:

• Blue Crab Boulevard has a post about the cane toads in Australia.
• Invasive Notes has a list of plants used as "biofuel" - it's a long one, and there are a lot of invasive species in there.
• View from here blogs about putting gray squirrels on the pill...yes, *that* pill.
• 10,000 Birds notes that Australia has a major Myna Problem.
• Garden in Bethlehem PA has a post about two common invasive shrubs in Pennsylvania.
• The sky blue waters report has a post about a very large bighead carp caught in a lake in southeastern Minnesota.

Rat Trap

Perhaps some of you have seen the story currently making the rounds about giant rats invading the Florida Keys. The ISW first posted about the Gambian pouch rats (Cricetomys gambianus) in Grassy Key back in 2005, and then again when the eradication program began in 2006. Now Yahoo! News and others are reporting that the eradication program is entering its last phase. Wildlife officials are out in Grassy Key setting traps using peanut butter mixed with almond extract and anise. Sounds pretty yummy until the part about the poison zinc phosphide.

The really interesting story here is not about the pouch rats, which are old news, but about this eradication project holding up other invasive species control projects, in particular the feral cat problem plaguing Big Pine Key. Because the cats are threatening the endangered Lower Keys rabbit (Sylvilagus palustris hefneri), there are plans to remove the cats from the island, but with resources low, animal rights activists are turning to Hugh Hefner for help. Yes, you read that right: Hugh Hefner. Check out that scientific name - turns out Hef took an interest in protecting the rabbits and they are now named after him. Frank Cerabino at the Palm Beach Post has the full story.

EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!!!

Back in January 2005, the ISW posted about the Gambian pouch rat (Cricetomys gambianus) invasion in the Florida Keys. Now the Miami Herald is reporting that an eradication program is underway to remove the rodents from Grassy Key and one other island. The big concern at this point is that the giant rats, if not dealt with, will eventually manage to reach Key Largo or even the Florida Everglades and beyond. The current eradication method of choice: traps with poison bait.

The Return of Grunge?

Interesting article in the Seattle Post Intelligencer about the appearance of nutria (Myocastor coypus) in Seattle, Washington. Washington was just one of many states where the South American rodents were introduced as part of the fur trade, back in the mid-1900s. Now they have suddenly started popping up around Lake Washington and in other wetland habitats around Seattle, an no one is quite sure why.

The SPI report includes a handy sizing chart, comparing nutria to beaver and rats, and also a link to the Nutria of Union Bay project, an effort by University of Washington students to collect and analyze data using sightings from citizen scientists. Also, don't miss the link at the bottom of the page to the reader comments - some of them are a hoot!

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.)

Enter The Rat King

USA Today, among others, is reporting that Gambian pouch rats (Cricetomys gambianus) have invaded the Florida Keys. A Florida scientist proudly (kidding) noted that this is the first documented naturalized population of these oversized rodents in the U.S. The ISW first reported on the pouch rats, as vectors of monkeypox, back in June 2003.

Update: Those aren't invasive species, those are land mine detectors! Maybe this will be a boon for the U.S. after all :-).

Rodent Revelry

For a tongue-in-cheek perspective on the prominence of the nutria (Myocastor coypus) in Louisiana, you can now view streaming video of a report from Comedy Central's The Daily Show. To view the video, which requires Real Player, go here and click on the photo above "Unendangered Species." While the report follows the typical Daily Show format of insulting the interviewees, they still manage to get some interesting points across. Be prepared to laugh, and if you're easily offended, don't click! Perhaps Comedy Central is on some kind of nutria kick; I recently read that one of their other shows, Insomniac, featured a segment with host Dave Attell on a nutria-hunting trip with the New Orleans police. You can read his diary entry about it by going here and placing your mouse over the photo of Dave with a gun (5th one in).