What do you think when you hear alien invader? Little green creatures with antennas in big UFO’s that abducts cows as an experiment? Well that is all sci-fi. (Don’t get me wrong, I believe in aliens, but there just isn’t all that solid fact to prove it.) This is about the invasive species and organisms that has come to America without a green card and definitely is with out a passport. They come to cause chaos, and could affect YOUR lives.

You might think why worry about little animal that has come to America illegally? How would you like to live around vines that could grow 12 inches a day, and could cover an entire village in years in if not taken action? Or how about little snake that go around biting people and killing singing bird and could cut down power lines? I don’t know about you but I sure don’t. Here are some invasive species that has devastated the US for quite a long time.

Kudzu

hey are the vines I was talking about in the second paragraph. They are known as “The Plant that Ate the South.” I think you know why. They grow extremely fast, and could regenerate when cut down as long as the root is still there. But the problem is that the root is buried very deep into the ground, (being a plant used to control erosion before it “gone bad”)so that is a very hard task.They were introduced to the US from Japan in 1876, used as an agricultural plant and an ornamental plant. 

 It is quite scary to think that that was a house before it was devoured by the evil kudzu. Imagine waking up and finding the windows all dark. You think it is still at night but the clock says 10:00 am. You opened the door with a big heave and suddenly realize the kudzu has decided to help Lady Environment by sacrificing your house! This will be one place where those environmentalists won’t be going around carrying signs saying “Go Green!” (Oh, and by the way, it is related to peas, if that’s any help.)

Asian Longhorn Beetle

For those of you New Yorkers thinking that is where airports are safe, well…it’s not. The Asian Longhorn Beetle hitch hiked a ride on an airplane in some wood packaging material in the 980’s, and some how got past the US Custom and starting to feast on the trees of New York. These little critters bores holes inside trees and eat them, causing the branches to start growing weak and fall on innocent by-standers. The longhorn is hard to get rid of, because they live deep in trees where pesticides couldn’t get to them. The best solution is to just cut down the trees infected, since they were going to die anyways, and destroy the tree.

Scary, huh? You might have seen these on buses or other advertisements. Don’t ignore them, cause you never know when they are chewing away at a tree near YOU! (CREEK, CRACK, “OUCH!!”)

Brown Tree Snake

Never judge someone by its size, and the same goes with snakes. This little 1-2 meter snake is skinny with a big bad bite. And poor Guam was bit hard. Before the snake came, there was plenty of singing birds in the forests, but now, the snake has decimated many native animals in the forests, including birds. ( I always wonder how a snake can catch a flying animal without legs to jump. Maybe the birds are just stupid.) Other than forest animals, they also bite people. They are venomous and can kill a small baby. This causes many griefs to the families of Guam. 

Looks puny? Well next time you visit your aunt Clara in Guam, be sure to put on some snake repellent, (if that exists, that is) and put on thick clothing. You never know when those little guy would want to sink their little fangs into your skin and give you a one way ticket to the hospital.

Starling

Doesn’t this name and picture reminds you of Starly, in Pokemon? Well the only this one really exists and attacks with their poop. (That’s right, the smelly thing that comes from their behind.) How does that affects us? Well those birds are not very civilized (on another thought, which birds are?) and would go to bathroom everywhere. If you live in urban area, you don’t have to worry about the poop getting DIRECTLY into your food, but they do get into the food of the farm animals that you eat, and you should know that all poop are poisonous, and…well you know the rest. If you live in urban areas, you might see them socializing with the pigeons and sparrows, being gregarious birds. They don’t do much harm.

Yes, that is a mynas bird, the birds that talk better than you baby brother. They are a type of starling, and if you have one at home, better keep them away from your spaghetti.

Purple Loosestrife

Aww! Look at the pretty flower! Looks can be deceiving, and that is the exact thing with this cute little flower. They look like purple cattail with flower instead of bristles. They grow extremely fast any is blotching out the other native plants and taking their resources.  One plant can produce up to 3 million seed a year, no wonder it is super-reproductive. They grow up to 1.5 meters in height and width and grow in shallow water and marshes, disrupting water flow. They come from Japan, and was shipped to become a decoration plant. But not know the negative affects, they some how got into the wild.

So be careful when the next time your decorate your garden, cause you never know when a bunch of pretty flowers want to take over your yard!

But don’t get the general idea that all alien species are invasive and bad. Hawaii, an island know for its vast plant life and animals, has 90% of it’s plant and animal life being alien. Not a lot of them are native. Alien species can be good, like the many fruits introduced to the US from various parts of the world, like pineapples and papayas. But many of them has in fact been proven to be invasive. Modern technology has drastically increased the natural spread rate of organisms. They hitch hike in planes, boats, etc. One major transportation of aliens is ballast. They are things to weigh boats down to stabilize them. They used to use stones (if you see cobblestone paved road, they once were used as ballast then dumped in the port. Having no use for them, people paved roads with them) as ballast, which is less dangerous, but recently, they have been using water from the port. They suck in the water, along with all the organisms in it. they then travel to distant coast, and after lightening their load, they need more water to stabilize the ship, and dump it back at its own port. That really cause disruption to the ecosystem.