When you come to a new place, you are not familiar with life, you are often a little overwhelmed, and your life is not good. But many animals, as invasive species after being transported by humans, can flourish like fish.
No, the American mink (Neovison vison) is being slaughtered as an invasive species on the northern gannet (Morus bassanus) off the coast of the United Kingdom.
Yes!
Victim - Northern gannet
The goose is mythologized by the Internet, fierce and aggressive, beating people and abusing dogs. As the largest seabird in the North Atlantic, the northern gannet (Morus bassanus) is not inferior to the goose in size, and it also has a "goose" in its name, but they belong to the order Pelican, which is 8 poles away from the goose, and the call is a little similar.
Northern gannets are mostly gray-brown during their teenage years and gradually turn white over the course of five years until they mature. As adults , their heads and nape are pale yellow , which is more prominent during the breeding season.
Yellow is a sign of maturity
They are so large that they have almost no predator predators – they are 1 meter long, have a wingspan of 1 meter 8, and can make effective use of air currents when flying. Even in calm weather, they can reach speeds of 55 to 65 km/h. This speed, combined with swooping skills, makes the northern gannet a super master of fishing.
Top fishing skills
But there is always a disorder in life, and the northern gannet has some very bad neighbors - the big skua. Instead of catching fish themselves, these skuas lurk like bandits in the breeding grounds of gannets and attack those who catch them.
Northern gannets have much less flying muscle than skuas, so their maneuverability (flexibility) in flight is completely lost.
Leave money to buy roads
Skuas chase and attack gannets in the air, grabbing the top of the gannet's wings and causing them to fall into the sea, or grabbing their tails and pushing them into the water. It is not released until the victim regurgitates and spits out the fish in his stomach.
Although the skua are very, very annoying, the life of the gannet is not in danger. For thousands of years, the northern gannets have bred peacefully to hundreds of thousands, most of which will gather in the spring on the rocky coast of Britain to raise their offspring. It wasn't until the last decade or two that things suddenly changed.
Invasive species – american mink
American mink, which does not belong here, is killing gannets, both juvenile and adult. Such attacks occur all the time on the Shores of England.
The American mink, despite its cute appearance, is a greedy and aggressive predator, hunting a wide variety of prey and dominating the British Isles.
Native to North America, american mink were brought to Europe for cultivation in the early 20th century for their particularly soft fur. At the height of fur farming, there were an estimated 400 farms in the UK alone.
Where there is oppression, there is resistance. Inevitably, countless mink escaped, rose up and began to breed in the wild. In the late 1990s, the ban on fur farming led to the abandonment of large groups of mink, a problem that was seriously exacerbated.
These American minks are semi-aquatic species with streamlined bodies and waterproof fur that are as comfortable in the water as they are on land, and soon spread throughout the British Isles.
Within a decade, one of the mink's favorite prey, the Arvicola amphibious vole in the UK, had fallen by more than 90 percent, and the number of seabirds nesting on islands in the mink's sphere of influence (swimming distance) had all decreased.
Counter violence with violence
In recent years, many British conservation groups have tried to control the flood of Mink in the United States through trapping and hunting, but the labor cost is high and the results are small.
As a result, the plan to counter violence with violence and cultivate new forces to squeeze the living space of mink was put on the agenda.
Eurasian otter
Since 2013, the UK government has heeded the advice of ecologists and decided to introduce a large number of Eurasian otters (Lutra Lutra) as competitors to american mink.
Show off the Unicorn Arm
Otters are experts in fishing, and more than 80% of their diet is fish, while mink are generalists, and their diets include different proportions of aquatic and land-based prey.
In the struggle for territory, otters can use their larger size, herd habits, and more ferocious aggressiveness to squeeze mink, which is equivalent to protecting native species.
Above! Teach those dogs a lesson
Otters, one of the few species that fight in groups
The Eurasian otters fighting on the western islands have proven to be 45 percent less invasive by U.S. minks for nearly a decade, and suppression efforts are promising for the recovery of seabird populations.
Write at the end
The ultimate fate of the invading mink is uncertain, and the roommates with otters belonging to the family Ferret continue, with signs that they are losing.
Incidentally, in the incident in which the mink killed the gannet in the head-to-tail photo, the two of them fell off the cliff together and fell into the cold water below, and the gannet was able to escape the claws of the mink.
The author thanks you for your attention (¬_¬)