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)

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 couple weeks in invasive species posts, from elsewhere in the blogosphere:

• Greg over at the Gondola Blog writes about his experiences discovering quagga mussels in Lake Las Vegas, Nevada and getting stopped for a boat inspection in California.
• Environmental graffiti posts "The 5 Worst Invasive Plants," a sequel to last month's "The 5 Worst Invasive Species in the World."
• Rock Paper Lizard has a post about gray squirrels run amok in the island city of Richmond, British Columbia.

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.

A Pox On You

This BBC News article has the most awful photo I have seen in the news for a long time - a dead red squirrel. The photo is provided as evidence of something wildlife biologists have been concerned about: squirrel pox has spread to the native red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) in Scotland. The squirrel pox virus has been known since 2005 in the UK, where it is carried by the introduced American gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), so perhaps this development was inevitable. The article does note that scientists are working on a vaccine for the virus, but in the meantime, Scottish conservation officers are asking residents to avoid feeding squirrels, since that encourages the congregation of both species, and are asking anyone who observes a red squirrel with lesions to report it.

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.)