3 Non-Native Animals That Were Introduced By The Government - Invasive and Beneficial Species

One of the worst things you can do to a healthy ecosystem is to introduce a non native species. Invasive species are one of the leading causes of extinctions and once they become established they are very hard to remove. I have made many videos about invasive species on this channel and it's surprising to find out how many species were introduced on purpose. Many invasive species were introduced by the government but not all introduced species are invasive. Over the years some non native animals have been introduced into an ecosystem and they have actually benefited the ecosystem. In this video i will be taking a look at both good and bad animal introductions as i will be going through 3 non native animals that were introduced by the government - invasive and beneficial.

Audio Equipment I Use And Recommend:

Tubebuddy (youtube growth tool I recommend):

Chapters
0:00 Introduction
0:53 Andean Condor In California
3:45 Barn Owl In Hawaii
6:12 Peacock Bass In Florida

Attributions
Andean condor images:
flyingfabi
CC BY-NC 2.0 DEED
Pedro Szekely
CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED
Nathan Rupert
CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED
M Kuhn
CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 DEED
Eric Kilby
CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED

California condor images:
Gregory "Slobirdr" Smith
CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED
USFWS Pacific Southwest Region
PDM 1.0 DEED
Nathan Rupert
CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED

Barn owl images:
Dannymoore1973
CC0 1.0 DEED
Feroze Omardeen
CC BY 2.0 DEED
Bill Bouton
CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED
Jens Oldenburg
CC BY 4.0 DEED
Chris
CC BY 2.0 DEED
Andrew Mercer
CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED
Jon Nelson
CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 DEED

Cattle egret images:
Ken and Nyetta
CC BY 2.0 DEED

Horn fly image:
Judy Gallagher
CC BY 2.0 DEED

Hawaii bird footage:
Hawaii DLNR
CC BY-NC
ManyBirds Channel

Other Hawaiian bird images:
Forest Starr and Kim Starr
CC BY 2.0 DEED
Howard Patterson
CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 DEED
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
PDM 1.0 DEED
USFWS - Pacific Region
CC BY-NC 2.0 DEED
Mark Kimura
CC BY-NC 2.0 DEED

Peacock bass images:
Leszek Leszczynski
CC BY 2.0 DEED
Amazon Outreach
CC BY-NC 2.0 DEED
FishingBooker
CC BY-ND 2.0 DEED
Florida Fish and Wildlife
CC BY-ND 2.0 DEED
Wellerson Santana
CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED
budak
CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED

Peacock bass footage:
R.L. Winston Rod Co.
CC BY-SA
BryanTheCEO

I have edited and adapted some of these clips and images.

Thanks for watching i hope you enjoyed :)

Sources:

[scarylookinhobo]

Love the video! I'm glad you covered the fact that not all non-native species are invasive, as many instantly assume that because it doesn't belong in a place that it must be harming the environment in some way. And thanks for covering my favorite owl :)

[IanPendleton-ghox]

I know of at least two successful introductions in Australia that happened specifically to reduce the impact of other invasive species. Cactoblastis cactorum is a species of moth from South America, was introduced to control the spread of multiple species of cactus in the genus Opuntia, while 23 species of dung beetle were introduced from 1965-1985 to control the polluting effects of cattle dung. A third controlled introduction that also went well is of Aldabra Giant Tortoises on Île aux Aigrettes just off the coast of Mauritius, where they've taken on the role once filled by now extinct native tortoises in dispersing plant seeds across the island's forests. I even know of a 4th successful introduction on Bermuda, where Yellow-Crowned Night Herons were introduced in the late 1970s to control the out of control population of land-crabs on the island, filling the role of an extinct relative.

All of those introductions have been very successful thus far, and if you have the time and desire I would love to see a video on them that goes into more detail on each introduction.

[tarotafterdark]

One of the reasons I gravitated and subscribed to this channel is because of all of the refreshing and unique topics covered. Great job guys! 🎉

[juliancar]

3:42 I actually once saw a California Condor flying overhead while on a highway. I was in the passenger seat able to get a good look at it. But I wasn't able to take a photo on time. Still a cool experience.

[toothgapjohn]

Thank you for another great video Tsuki!

[MotoHikes]

Great video! I was unaware of the Andean/Californian Condor situation. Would love to see a part 2 of this! My suggestion for one would be the Nile Perch being introduced into Lake Victoria. It's such a complex situation that I studied for my degree, with socio-economic factors and tourism that then lead to a plethora of problems, not just environmental.

[Gloria-rovn]

I thought I knew everything about the history of the California Condor but I never heard about them bringing in Andean Condors. Places like The Living Desert, in Palm Desert, California never mention it. Thank you.

[tassadarc]

Asking for the like while showing the pupper isn't fair! How can anyone resist that? :p

[colinhundt]

I was glad to hear that not all government introduced non-native species turn into disasters. I would love to hear about others.

[boredwarlock]

More invasive species content please! Thanks I remember learning in biology back in high school that 1/10 introduced species will actually be able to survive in an introduced environment. And of that only 1/10 of those species will grow to become an invasive problem. Looking back on it I'm not sure such statistics can really exist.

[chipsdubbo]

Hey Tsuki. Have you considered making a video about invasive species that just kind of got absorbed into the native ecosystem? Ones that a lot of people don't realize are invasive. As a Floridian. It always surprises me when people don't know that Brown Anoles aren't native. They're a very common and normal sight everywhere in the Sunshine State(Heck, just today I had to kick one out of my bedroom), and technically are destructive in the sense that they've essentially stolen the ground level predator role from the native Green Anoles. But since they've sort of settled into that niche, and aren't really threatening any species with imminent extinction. They aren't really mentioned much when people talk about invasive Florida species. And I'm curious about other common animals that people might not realize weren't originally part of their ecosystems.

[maxwellbarrett]

wow i didnt expect the twist at the end, so cool

[JohnnyAngel]

The doggie at the end looks like it's asking, "am I invasive?"

[OmarBhoo]

Bringing mongoose into Jamaica to clear snakes from cane fields. It resulted in the extinction of many indigenous birds and the snakes are still there.

Since I was a kid they would light the cane fields on fire to clear them before harvest. So you got pollution, massive fires close to roads and collateral damage to homes and businesses as a result.

[yapchannel]

Request: 10 Ten of the largest Pinnipeds In the World!

[Redneckkratos]

8:20 I remember this comic showing how wolves were supposedly airdropped into areas where the moose were running rampant and unchecked and the wolf was being parachuted down with a knife in hand. I can imagine governments hiring Arnie to do that but in squirrel infested areas

[kennethlindahl]

You could do a whole video on Idaho fish and game.
From the multi-mess ups in Lake Pend Oreille and Priest Lake.
To releasing North Canadian Timberwolves into a warmer climate with all that implies.

[brucebrazaitis]

About Hawaii, During the 1950's when there was a big "Let's improve Nature!" they introduced three species of non-native marine fish. Two of them are very "weedy" the Blue line Snapper and the Argus Grouper. Both of these fish aren't that large so they are about panfish size around a foot in length so they were not popular food fish. In fact one book I found about cooking Hawaiian reef fish mentioned that blue line snappers could be bought for next to nothing in the local fish markets if you didn't mind cleaning a lot of them for a meal. Of course they must consume more other reef fish than lion fish do.
Peacock bass in Florida are interesting since the tilapia they were introduced to control were also introduced by the state for aquatic weed control.

[Account_Nxme-iqeu]

Also another examples:
1. Cats - Introduced to get rid of rats and rabbits, becomes invasive
2. Cane Toad - Introduced to get rid of cane beetles, becomes invasive
3. Wild Boar - Introduced for hunting purposes
4. Foxes - Introduced for hunting purposes
5. Rabbits - Introduced for hunting purposes

[justonecornetto]

Another species to consider is the signal crayfish which was introduced by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries into the UK during the 1970s so they could be commercially farmed for the Scandinavian market. When it got into UK rivers the impact on the native white clawed crayfish was devastating because the signal carries a plague that is deadly to them and outcompetes them for food.