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Natives vs Exotics

  • #21
Oh sorry. Both. The medow planting will be local natives exlusivly, the garden is a mix of both. They dont exactly make white varieties of pale purple coneflower and red varieties of Monarda fistulosa (Wild Bergamot) so to fit in with the color schemes and plantings i will use cultivars and north american natives. I like threadleaf coreopsis and Beebalm, coneflower 'white swan' and Rudbeckia 'goldsturm', to name a few. It works as well as any exotics, but again, it is the thought that counts.
 
  • #22
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]... I've caught snakes in florida and the amazon, and *nowhere* had abundances like Guam. In the Amazon the entire group found a dozen snakes in a week. In Guam, I found 15 in *two hours* just walking along the side of the road with a headlamp. I literally almost tripped over one. (The offical estimate of their density is 14,000 snakes per square mile. 14,000!)...

But the real question: Do they taste good?
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Ok, well, it's late. I've got something I'd like to post, but it'll have to wait until tomorrow!
 
  • #23
It amazes me that people could probably remain as selfish and oblivious as they are now (which is exactly what they're going to keep doing no matter what happens) if our population was down to 5-10% of what it currently is. I've never seen any numbers or studies on it, but I wonder if we could really do that much lasting damage if we had the same lifestyles we have now, just on that much smaller scale.

That's my #1 wish for the planet I think... some sort of ongoing human population control. It would solve so much. And I can't conceive of any way it could ever possibly happen.
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A pandemic is probably the best thing that could ever happen to us in the long run. Nature's going to have to solve the problem for us. We just don't have the brains to do it.
 
  • #24
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Spotlight for the reflective eyes and you'll see alot more.

Actually, the first thing they told us about catching these was that they don't have eyeshine. Instead, you look for the shine off the ventral scales, which is more difficult to spot, but not too bad.

[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Did you notice an unusual abundance of spiders on guam? I hear with the lack of pradators around they are overabundant now

Not particularly, but we weren't really looking for anything but snakes.

[b said:
Quote[/b] ] i just cant see any way around it being inevitable as long as we are around like we currently are.

Improved biosecurity measures are one way to reduce it, along with preventing people from owning invasive species.

[b said:
Quote[/b] ]BTW as far as "the cure for cancer" it doesnt exist, cancer is not just "cancer" its abnormal cells, and different types can be way to different for the same drug to work on all. it should be "cures for cancers" if you want to get technical.

Yes, but some of the same uderlying mechanisms are at work throughout, including some of the same genes, and some of the same processes in the tissues. While all cancers are different, all are similar in some ways too.

[b said:
Quote[/b] ]as a highly active hunter and angler i am very pro conservation. however i know what man kind is. all you who want to make a difference i applaud you and will roll up my sleeves and help but in the greater scheme of things what is it really going to do?

Prevent species from going extinct. Every time a species goes extinct, it alters the course of evolutionary history, especially if that species is the sole representative of a larger taxonomic group. Evolution is replete with examples of minor groups happening to be around at the right time and place to have a major adaptive radiation and become key players in the ecosystem.

In the strictly long-term, nothing matters, because the sun will eventually expand to red giant phase and engulf the Earth, vaporizing it and everything on it. But in the meantime, we can try not to mess things up too badly.

[b said:
Quote[/b] ]should have let the seals die from the oil and purchased more land to be set aside from logging, would have been a wiser investment but it doesnt look as good as releasing a couple seals and ppl get a national pat on the back where signing over a cople hundred acres might have got mentioned in the regional paper. ppl are greedy and its not always money they are after

That's a complain I also have; spending conservation money on this or that media-friendly cause, when simply buying habitat and protecting it is much more beneficial.

[b said:
Quote[/b] ]But the real question: Do they taste good?

Nope. Snake generally tastes like chicken, but this species has extremely elongate tendons (which is why we sought it out), so it's be like eating a mixture of chicken and dental floss.

[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Nature's going to have to solve the problem for us. We just don't have the brains to do it.

Well, I'm doing my part: my fiancee and I are both vehemently child-free.

Mokele
 
  • #25
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Well, I'm doing my part: my fiancee and I are both vehemently child-free.

and for all those who are after children ive got 2 step daughters im willing to send yah in order to change your minds
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  • #26
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Mokele @ May 11 2006,11:05)]Well, I'm doing my part: my fiancee and I are both vehemently child-free.
Kudos... great to hear that someone else is.
 
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