Six-Legged Giant Finds Secret Hideaway, Hides for 80 Years
npr.org
npr.org
Here in New Zealand, we have many native species of birds, insects, frogs, lizards and the like that thrived when our islands were cut off from the rest of the planet, but that have become extinct, or are in imminent danger of being so due to introduced predators such as rats, stoats, hedgehogs, ferrets, cats etc. etc.
It leads to the bizarre situation that conservation here is largely about killing things.
We use a bigger version to catch possums. Its hard to tell how many we catch though, as the feral pigs like to carry off and eat the dead ones. Its really a fascinating logistical problem trying to eradicate a broad spectrum of pests.
That being said, wild rats are very destructive because of their hardiness and intelligence. Raccoons may be the top animal for intelligence in urban environments, but they can't match rats for their destructive potential.
Many predators live in balance with the population of their preys. When the predators are too successful, the prey population will diminish, which causes the predator population to shrink, which is good for the preys, etc.
But omnivores like rats can wipe out an entire prey population and then just switch to some other source of food.
Makes for scary reading!
Weta are a bit like large, nocturnal crickets. There are more than one variety, but you're probably thinking of the giant variety.
We get a relative of them here in the US, usually called cave crickets or camel crickets (here in VA).
Also we've stopped those pesky Victorians from introducing new species. Its a good thing they never introduced wildcats to control the stoats, weasels and ferrets - which they introduced to control the rabbits - which they introduced to give them something to shoot at on quiet Sunday afternnons.
[1] http://www.radiolab.org/story/brink/ [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judas_goat
There is also a book out now on the insects [2].
These creatures have such a great name! Nobody wants to eat crickets or worms, but who could resist a tree lobster? It is such a great marketing name!
[1] http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/07/global-liv...
Edit: you are right that being a food source for humans doesn't guarantee survival. It only happens if the food source can be mass produced.
When the last giant bloom came to the southern Ohio area (~2000 or so), there were people using snow shovels to the clear the sidewalks of the carcasses. There was one particular neighborhood where the sound was so deafening, you couldn't hear the person next to you, even if they were shouting.
>Published February 29, 201210:10 AM ET
I remember reading the article in 2012. I wonder what the update was? I only skimmed, is it mentioned anywhere?
Here's the most recent Wayback Machine snapshot, for comparison: https://web.archive.org/web/20160106214937/http://www.npr.or...
I need something like a web diff
<meta name="description" content="The insect is so large — as big as a human hand — it's been dubbed a "tree lobster." [-It was thought to be-]{+Presumed+} extinct,[-but-] some enterprising ento mologists [-scoured-]{+found them on+} a barren hunk of rock in the middle of the [-ocean and found surviving Lord Howe Island stick insects."-]{+ocean."+} />
Edit: Is there a way to get the raw html from archive.org without the rewritten links? It pollutes the diff badly.
but yeah I see your point, still you have the issue of no older archives existing
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160113-could-just-two-peop...
So there are bigger insects around, and they can fly?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_beetle
http://www.odditycentral.com/animals/bugs-the-size-of-your-h...
The largest known flying insects from the fossil record were about the size of a crow. Meganisoptera are sometimes called griffinflies, with wingspans up to 71cm, length 43cm.
It was a non venomous variety, of course.
In the house if a spider is found, I generally try to save it and put it outside.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/07/130729-rats-...