Land snail invasion
The African land snail - this one's in Florida
My favourite news item today is the story on Florida’s giant-snail invasion, especially this bit:
This is not the first invasion for Florida.
In 1966, a boy imported three giant snails as pets, and his grandmother released them into the wild, which led to a colony of 18,000.
The eradication effort took nine years and cost over one million dollars.
It’s fascinating to see how how quickly a couple of creatures can reproduce into thousands, and the devastation they can cause in an alien environment.
We say that in Malta a couple of years back with the red palm weevil. When I first saw one in the garden, before the news reports and warnings went out, I remember thinking ‘What’s that strange thing?’ and trapping it in a jam-jar to find out. It actually looked alien. Only one of our palms survived. The others were so thoroughly infested they couldn’t be saved.
I hope nobody in Malta gets any African land snail ideas. Not that they’d survive for long in the wild here. There are too many people around who think they’d make a great meal.
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http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120213/environment/Attack-of-the-giant-snails-.406503
http://www.news.com.au/world/florida-under-attack-by-giant-african-land-snails/story-e6frfkyi-1226267951614
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/10/south-florida-battles-onslaught-of-giant-crop-eating-african-snails/
X’kien qatt ma gietu f’rasu Duminku Mintoff biex jiftah fabbrika tal-bebbux bhal dawn?
@ Dee – forsi ghax beza li ha jiekolu il kappar..
Dee, tal-kappar kienet bizzejjed
Actually, some 50 years back, snails used to be exported from Malta to Sicily. They were most abundant in Comino.
@ Dee
Because they are nearly as toxic as he is.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15517221
Drat. Someone beat us to it.
Kien issemijha, rabbi u kattar.
Le, ghad dawk il-bebbux jieklu l-kappar.
Ghax haseb li ahjar jinvesti fl Air Malta,.
Possibli Austin ma jafx bihom dawn.
Dak ghaliex Alex Sceberras Trigona kien illuminat iktar u ried jiftaħ dik il-famuża fabbrika tal-kappar fi żmien meta x-xaghra u l-kampanja Maltija kienet qiegħda tiġi meqruda xorta waħda (dak iż-żmien mingħajr MEPA imma ried ikollok il-benedizzjoni ta’ xi Patrick Holland jew il-Lorry Sant) / u tista’ tgħid li l-kappar kien kważi nqered minn Malta ħlief għal dak li baqa’ jikber mas-swar u f’Manoel Island.
Ma nafx jekk l’AST kellux intenzjoni jixxabbat mas-swar biex ilaqqat xi kappara.
Jien li noqgħod il-Kappara, per eżempju, qatt ma rajt kappar speċjalment wara li l-għażiż Mintoff għoġbu jagħti lir-Russi dik l-art kollha biex jagħmlu mhux biss ambaxxata imma naħseb anki xi ċentru tal-KGB… u allura, addio kappar, wisq inqas bebbux.
Min qallek li ma gietux? Imma kien qed jaghti cans il-fabbrika tal-kappar tiehu r-ruh.
Because they were inbred.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120213/local/franco-debono-calls-for-raising-of-law-course-entry-requirements.406610
”As it were, the law CURSE was becoming a dumping ground for students who did not make it into other courses.”
Almost a Sunday roast for the family, right there.
I did the same thing when I saw a red palm weevil for the first time. I found one on my bedroom floor and I thought it was a really fantastic insect so I took some pictures.
Clever me thought it was some endangered beetle so the mother-nature in me made sure to pick it up gently on a piece of paper and put in the garden. Thankfully we don’t have palms there.
” There are too many people around who think they’d make a great meal.”
So true – first thing I thought was ‘Do they taste the same as Maltese snails?’
Actually, we could really grow them on an industrial scale.
The solution is simple. Fly a plane-load or two of Maltese people armed with breadcrumbs, garlic, olive oil and parsley and let them loose out there for a couple of weeks.
Dee, Mintoff fil-fniek kien mohhu u mhux fil-bebbux. Ma tiftakarx kemm kienu jaghjruna maggoranza kollha fniek u issa qedin jammettu li dak iz-zmien kienu fil-gvern ileggittimament. Dawk nies serji u denji tal-politika! Misshom jisthu jipprezentaw ruhom quddiem il-poplu Malti. Misshom jistahbew bhal bebbux mela joqoghdu jitmejlu bin-nies.
Hmmm…snail kebabs, finally.
I wonder who is copying whom.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13976517
I was actually shocked to find out about ten years ago that people in Malta are buying these exotic pets (especially snakes and spiders) and when they grow bored of them many let them go ‘in field’ because they ‘feel sorry for them’.
This is more common that you would imagine. For the life of me I don’t understand why they don’t simply return them to the pet shop.
When I was studying biology at university I had discussed this issue with one of my lecturers and he admitted that it is a legitimate problem, but one which for one reason or another goes unnoticed my most people.
Whilst the aliens on land are getting some attention by the public and by authorities in general, marine alien species are colonising our waters without anyone batting an eyelid.
Despite having a marine area which is 18 times our terrestrial area, we rarely give a hoot as to what happens in the sea around us. On an island, this is a very anomalous situation indeed
I think, before anyone gets excited about recipes featuring the East African Land snail, I should bring it to your attention that said snails are impervious to pesticides, poisons and even flamethrowers.
Not even joking.
Starving them for a week and then throwing them in boiling water for an hour should do the trick though.
Cruel !