Posts tagged “invasive species

Judas Goats and Other Memories of the Galapagos

Posted on February 21st, 2010

The Galapagos had a feral goat problem so the powers that be hunted them down and killed them. They used a tactic called the “Judas Goat,” where they captured a goat, fitted it with a radio collar, and released it back into the wild. The Judas Goat would return to the herd and scientists and hunters would track it by helicopter and gun them all down. They were conducting this on the islands of Isabela and Santiago during our trip there to chase striped marlin. We stopped at a spot the goats might be. There was a path marked by a goat skull nailed to a post. The last Judas here must have done his job; live goats were nowhere to be found. The…

INVASIVE SPECIES: What of the Snakehead?

Posted on February 21st, 2008

Singlebarbed posted on snakeheads finding their way into English waters. I wrote this response, twice, yet somehow managed to pull off leaving a blank comment box on his site. Twice. So here’s my comment: “The critics were quite nasty about the newcomers, variously described as scaly, voracious, monstrous and homely. They stole food from natives. They had sharp teeth. They ate their young…” A description of the introduction of brown trout to U.S. waters in 1883. Also, “It has displaced resident trout from the small rivers and lakes of Montana, Colorado, New Mexico and other mountain states. The brook trout’s main victim is the cutthroat, so called for the bright slash of crimson under its jaw. Squeezed on one side by invasive brook trout, native…

  

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