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Frogpocalypse Now

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Re: Frogpocalypse Now

#21

Post by LordKano »

protomyth wrote: post #17
LordKano wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That struck me as odd too. I know roughly how much one of those rifles weighs but I would imagine that the vast majority of the people reading this have never held one.

The more I think about it the odder the line. I've been around a lot of guns, but that is not one family of guns I have seen in person.

It's arguably the most common family of guns on the planet. I have owned some but it's still an odd unit of measure to me.

Along those lines, how many Libraries of Congress is that?

Re: Frogpocalypse Now

#22

Post by shuntress »

macintux wrote: post #3

I've long thought that if I had one "save the world" wish I'd have to think hard about confining invasive species to their native habitats. Admittedly, climate change, nuclear war, and space rocks are more dangerous, but man, getting rid of honeysuckle, kudzu, emerald ash borers, cane toads, etc would be quite an improvement.

This is just an arbitrary human whim that goes against nature.

That's not to say we shouldn't try to control where animals do or do not live.

But do not fool yourself into thinking that removing 'invasive' species is anything other than human avarice.

The natural order is for anything to live anywhere it can (like we do).

Re: Frogpocalypse Now

#24

Post by colanderman »

shuntress wrote: post #22
macintux wrote: post #3

I've long thought that if I had one "save the world" wish I'd have to think hard about confining invasive species to their native habitats. Admittedly, climate change, nuclear war, and space rocks are more dangerous, but man, getting rid of honeysuckle, kudzu, emerald ash borers, cane toads, etc would be quite an improvement.

This is just an arbitrary human whim that goes against nature. That's not to say we shouldn't try to control where animals do or do not live. But do not fool yourself into thinking that removing 'invasive' species is anything other than human avarice. The natural order is for anything to live anywhere it can (like we do).

The "natural order" (whatever that means) is for species migration to take place over the course of thousands of years, not an overnight plane ride.

Re: Frogpocalypse Now

#25

Post by macintux »

shuntress wrote: post #22
macintux wrote: post #3

I've long thought that if I had one "save the world" wish I'd have to think hard about confining invasive species to their native habitats. Admittedly, climate change, nuclear war, and space rocks are more dangerous, but man, getting rid of honeysuckle, kudzu, emerald ash borers, cane toads, etc would be quite an improvement.

This is just an arbitrary human whim that goes against nature. That's not to say we shouldn't try to control where animals do or do not live. But do not fool yourself into thinking that removing 'invasive' species is anything other than human avarice. The natural order is for anything to live anywhere it can (like we do).

We caused most of the current problem in this area, so it's not entirely "natural". Of course life spreads wherever it can, but we actively pushed it into places faster than local flora and fauna could adjust to it.

Re: Frogpocalypse Now

#26

Post by vilhelm_s »

LordKano wrote: post #8
protomyth wrote: post #6

Cane toads have these things going for them: they are bigger than other toads (the biggest cane toad on record weighed 5 pounds 13 ounces, almost as much as a Kalashnikov rifle) Is that a bit of a Freudian slip indicating what the author wants to do with the toads?

That struck me as odd too. I know roughly how much one of those rifles weighs but I would imagine that the vast majority of the people reading this have never held one.

And it doesn't seem very exact? Wikipedia says an AK-47 weighs 7.7 lb without the magazine.

Re: Frogpocalypse Now

#27

Post by pehtis »

The same thing happened in Australia decades ago. There is a 1988 documentary called "Cane Toads: An Unnatural History" that tells that story. Any information on the extend of the problem today?

Re: Frogpocalypse Now

#29

Post by reddytowns »

munificent wrote: post #19

I lived in Orlando for eight years. I find Florida an ecologically fascinating place. It's the only corner of the continental US that has an honest-to-God jungle climate, which makes it an unusual island in North America that is amenable to non-native species from many parts of South America, Africa, and Asia. On top of that, Florida has a weird cultural history around exoticism. Florida used to be be a little slice…

Sounds like taking a single step into the jungle would now be very dangerous.

Re: Frogpocalypse Now

#30

Post by michaelmrose »

shuntress wrote: post #22
macintux wrote: post #3

I've long thought that if I had one "save the world" wish I'd have to think hard about confining invasive species to their native habitats. Admittedly, climate change, nuclear war, and space rocks are more dangerous, but man, getting rid of honeysuckle, kudzu, emerald ash borers, cane toads, etc would be quite an improvement.

This is just an arbitrary human whim that goes against nature. That's not to say we shouldn't try to control where animals do or do not live. But do not fool yourself into thinking that removing 'invasive' species is anything other than human avarice. The natural order is for anything to live anywhere it can (like we do).

In order to analyze something we need to define what variables or aspects we care about and we then can see it in that context.

Natural means nothing in any context. It is entirely free of meaningful content.

To argue otherwise involves imagining there is a schism at some point between what is natural and not despite everything including intelligence and tool use is part of the natural world.

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