The guy who released the raccoons in Kassel (Germany) was in fact Hermann Göring. We even have an exterminator whose only job it is to deal with raccoons, logically called "Raccoon Man"
Yup, the pine martens probably find the grey squirrels more delicious, considering they are much bigger than many native squirrel species, including the European red squirrel.
@@beastmaster0934 I believe it has more to do with the way the squirrels forage. Grey squirrels in their native habitats are mostly preyed upon when they're on the ground so they feel safe in the trees, whereas red squrirels have evolved with a tree-dwelling predator (aka the marten) so they're more cautious and make less easy prey.
I think a good one to add would have been the native pine marten and invasive grey squirrels. Pine martens are the only animals preventing red squirrels from being completely wiped out by the greys
More rubbish. Pine martens were like hens' teeth until recent years, even in their strongholds, basically in Scotland. Anyone who thinks that martens choose prey by colour is living in fantasy land - they only eat greys!!!!!!!
@@birdie1585 Other beasts that would have a fine meal in a fat squirrel: White tailed eagle(Halieeatus albicilla) The closest living relative of the bald eagle. Prefers fish, but bald eagle will not turn down fat juicy grey squirrel and its European brother has uncannily similar habits. Create suitable nesting and Bob's your uncle, Fanny's your Aunt. Bye bye grey squirrel and overpopulation of rabbits. The UK govt. has been telling porky pies!! Buzzard (buteo buteo) Guess which bird in North America occupies the same ecological niche as this guy-BINGO! It has a relative! Buteo jaimacensis, aka red -tailed hawk. Looks very similar to the buzzard; you would have to look at the tail feathers and weigh them to tell them apart. The red tails live from Canada to the Caribbean and there is a healthy population of them in NEW YORK CITY, BOSTON, etc. A city can be a hawky heaven for this bird of prey and why nobody has looked into trying it on London with its sibling is mind boggling. Rats, grey squirrels too stupid to get out of the way, pigeons that poop everywhere: in other words, an all you can eat buffet for a member of Accipitrae. Eagle owl: Do I even have to explain?! Biiig friggin' owl. King and Lord of the Hooty Hoots. Naw, one of the largest owls in Europe could not POSSIBLY look at a 2 lb squirrel like humans look at a bucket of extra crispy when it has little fluffbals in the nest /s.
@@marykatherinegoode2773 Please do not preach of which you know nothing. Buzzards, sparrowhawks and kestrel are common diurnal birds of prey across virtually all of the UK where there is suitable habitat - including cities - I have watched a buzzard try to take wood-pigeon squabs from a nest in a clump of lilac in the tiny front garden of a house on the outskirts of Birmingham. Peregrines are not uncommon, especially within cities. The only threats to BOP within cities is traffic (and disease and starvation, but that is universally the case). Those apart, we have good numbers of osprey, and tiny, but increasing numbers of golden eagle, but they ARE NOT birds of cramped spaces within cities, or, even less, stands of timber - they are birds of wide-open spaces. Other BOP are scarce and highly specialised in habitat requirements. Our largest native resident owl that is anywhere near common is the tawny. There are essentially no common, or even sparsely distributed, native, aeriel or arboreal predators in the UK that operate within tree canopies, leave alone woods/forests. ALL predators exploit easy prey, and that is NOT grey squirrels. I suspect that I eat as many grey squirrels as do the vast majority of predators in the UK, avian or mammalian. It will be on the www somewhere, but my guess would be that the most significant predator of grey squirrels in the UK, is domestic cats. Maybe the UK should follow the historic example of countries like Australia and introduce specific predators to control other introduced species?
@@birdie1585 It's more a case of Red Squirrels have prey instincts for Pine Martens, whereas Grey Squirrels do not. So Pine Martens are more successful at preying upon Grey Squirrels than Reds
Golden jackals also regularly take down coypu and muskrats in Ukraine and the Caucasus. Plus, unlike foxes, they might be able to take on adult raccoons as opposed to just their young.
Great, let the UK introduce an African species to control another introduced species. BRILLIANT idea!!! Australia would go for that (NOT). Check out the body weights - jackal v racoon.
Many dont realise that apples are not native to north america, however it being pretty hardy means it recolonises clear cut areas pretty soon after clearing, attracting animals to bring scat and seeds as they are also an important food source for native animals. Like the dandelion, they dont have any noticable negative impact.
@@thedoomofred5174 yeah thats the thing though, im not sure the tern invasive is supposed to conotatively similar with a negative impact. What im saying is that invssive means exactly thst its imvaded as in not supposed to be there, but that shouldnt imply that its automatically bad for the environment. Mullein is another example, its non native and technically invasive, but its also one of the first things to recolonise cleared areas with damaged topsoil and seems to prefer it, trapping leaves that improve soil quality. It also only lives about two years but not so prolific that it crowds anything else out.
@@nunyabisnass1141, the term you’re looking for is exotic or introduced. Invasive species can be both native or introduced, the definition can be fairly subjective but if it causes property damages or requires interventions to reduce its population it’s likely to be considered invasive.
Another potential term for such a species would probably be naturalized. Since they have been able to find a niche in a new ecosystem without causing significant harm.
@@thedoomofred5174 yeah, that's fair. I mean my grievences with the confusing nature of how some words are used doesnt really have anything to do with the topic, i just really dont like it.
I live in Serbia and here we have a lake that was full of what you called pumpkinseed fish... It was all over the place! Became rather dominant and it's surprisingly aggressive. Local predators were not plentiful or interested in it... So, after a while, the perch was introduced and released into the lake in large numbers. It took a while, but now the numbers of pumpkinseed fish is under control...
The Signal crayfish had been seen in our local river. But not anymore. I seen at least 8 near a bridge and they were Huge. the next week I went back and there was broken shell fragments everywhere not long after a chap that set up a wildlife camera over that same stretch told me that although his camera did not catch the spot where the crayfish were, he has recording of two otters heading in their direction and lots of splashing was heard and seen.
@@ThomasDoubting5 so true. Trouble is, the signal crayfish are not native here. Otters due to pollution mostly became rare but their numbers are climbing now.
Sorry but from my experience otters are not interested in crays if any other foodstuff is present. I say this as a river keeper. We have several otters and a massive cray problem that I have to deal with. In the otter spraint I will find fish bone and scale, feather and fur but never cray shell . I’ve been following and filming the otters increase for several years now and am yet to find any sign of crayfish in their diet. I often find shell in heron pellets though. When I leave crays out from trapping even the badgers get in on the free snack... but not our otters!
@@stuartrichardson6928 I respect your opinion but what destroyed them then? There's little else that could. The fragments were all over the river banks and in the river. Otters hang around that stretch and poss live there . No mink have been sighted down there. This was confirmed by the bloke with the wildlife cameras on the river.
When I was in middle school in the late '70s, I met a nutria paddling in the stream at the bottom of my parent's garden in Maryland. I don't know how that one got there but I went back to the house and brought it a carrot. I spent a happy quarter of an hour, feeding the carrot to the nutria. It looked very much like a beaver but it was smaller with a shorter body and a distinctly round tail. I never saw it again after that day and I haven't seen others since.
The area where I live, a rural town in central Italy was overrun by the Louisiana red crayfish a couple of decades ago. Coincidentally the number of grey herons and great white herons is skyrocketed and the number of invasive crayfish decreased
Same here in eastern Spain marshes, but in this case with the Glossy ibis. 15 years ago its presence was scarce and usually in passage or winter days. At this moment it's not strange to spot flocks of them with 500-2000 birds, it's amazing. Nonetheless, Louisiana crayfish is still high in number.
We call the glossy ibis "Mignattaio", there are a few populations in Italy but they are quite a rare sight... Never seen one myself, you are quite a lucky devil
@@andreabertini3788 Here is called "Morito" (in Spanish) and "Picatort" (in Valencian). Despite the insanely fast growth of their populations and how easily they're now spotted in such huge flocks, I still can remember the joy of those first sights of the species around the year 2008, with barely 5-10 birds together.
you mentioned Pike. Pike in North America have been documented to be food agressive to a great many things, including human extremities. Bet they can do a number on Coypu, not to mention Wells Catfish (But we don't want to be pitting Invasive Species against Invasive species now, do we?)
well our europaen pike is also quite agressive and will try to eat a lot ,,,and swallow it when it fits in his mouth like ducklings ,,smaller birds and mammals the diffrence is america have like 10 predatory catfish species and like what 5 or 6 pike species Europe on the other hand have like 2 native catfish and 2 native pike spec and even then theyr moslty one one of them really common while the rest is fragmentet or just native to one river or lake
In France the european otter almost disapared, but during the last decades and since they are protected by the law, they made an impressive comeback in some regions. One of the possible reasons for this comeback is the presence of signal crayfish that are present everywhere and in a great numbers. It will definitely help regulating their populations but unfortunately it is too late for the native species which are almost only found in isolated areas or in the upper parts of streams and the populations are slowly decreasing because of the crayfish plague...
How to solve the raccoon trouble in Germany: remember that the wolves in North America will gladly have a raccoon for lunch, and it is likely that the Eurasian lynx would have a nice meal of it, too. Brown bears might have it as a snack. And given the current troubles with oil, kindly note that they have nice warm fur. (normally I am not a fan of furs as clothes, but since the raccoon is not a native and if things get really bad, by all means, make coats!!)
The problem is that while wolves and Lynx are slowly returning to germany they're mostly limited to very rural areas, national parks and large forests, while racoons are doing very well in urban areas, just like foxes! So they wolves and lynx are not gonna be very helpful there.
@@Qbliviens if the raccoons become completely limited to cities and nonviable outside them it's a big win. Cities are basically our custom sub-biomes where all natural balance was thrown out of the window centuries ago; raccoons don't harm them much besides annoying humans.
unfortunately the number of wolfs is still quite low. lynx have also gone down in numbers over the past few decades and brown bears are extinct in germany outside zoo´s. the last wild brown bear seen in germany was shot a week or so later for getting too close to human habitation.
@@uteriel282 True, but the government has to accept 2 things: 1) you cannot keep the wild beasts already present in Eastern Europe out forever 2) Kipling's poem "Law of the Jungle" applies. Very true, very true, the brown bear can be very scary. Its cousin the grizzly has attacked a few people over the years and putting up an electric fence around crops in places like Alberta, well, that is normal: once the bear had found your apple tree, you LET HIM FINISH. And young children should NEVER be allowed in the woods alone without Papa or Mama-that tiny part of the Brothers Grimm is true. But if they were allowed to return, the raccoons would not stand a chance. Brown bears have big appetites and they would outcompete the raccoons for certain foods and have the raccoon for dessert. They would also chow down on boar. Give it time. I doubt the wolves are going to stay where they are forever.
Another interesting thing about the signal crayfish: In Switzerland there recently has been a push to revitalize the rivers and bring back their longitudinal connectivity, because they are all chopped up into segments by dams etc. While this sounds great for many reasons, these isolated segments of the rivers are also the only safe space left for the native stone crayfish, which gets completely outcompeted by the signal crayfish. So now they got a dilemma on their hands, either keep the artificial river segmentations and protect the stone crayfish or return the river to its natural state and let the signal crayfish take over.
There government should heavily promote signal crayfish consumption and subsidize businesses that process and sell them. Then connect the rivers. After that they can let the destructive powers of unbridled industry kill them off.
As an American, I know the pumpkinseed fish well. We call them panfish because they are tasty little fish. Get your fishing gear and go control those fish.
JEREMIAH WAS A BULLFROG, WAS A GOOD FRIEND OF MINE. I NEVER UNDERSTOOD A SINGLE WORD HE SAID, BUT I HELPED HIM DRINK HIS WINE. YOU KNOW HE ALWAYS HAD SOME MIGHTY FINE WINE.-Three Dog Night
why is it nobody ever mentions that some invasives like bull frogs, signal crayfish and with some work coypu(nutria) are also pretty good to eat and no seasons no limits.
The otter could be put as one those predators for the pumpkin and bullfrog. Otters REALLY love frogs and Salamanders and obviously aint scared of some little fishie ;)
its mostly cause in theyr native country theyh ave predators and other animals to competet with but if you put it into a new ecosystem it can in many cases spread cuase no competition and predators never seen it before
Raccoons would help with your crawfish problem, and unlike the otters, will not have as much of an effect on the fish populations. Smallmouth bass would put a big dent in them as well, but would probably outcompete the other fish.
Here in North Italy we have a huge nutria problem, as we have a large area known as "Pianura Padana" which resembles their native habitat very well (flat, humid, rainy, with many rivers - much like their native pampa). You cam just walk by any river and see loads of nutrias...the problem is that they might compete with local beavers
Could the signal crayfish actually save the European mink? I heard that mink populations collapsed due to the native crayfish dying of plague, so an immune species could help it bounce back.
european mink is also endangered cause in europe lives the invasive american mink who outcompetes them too so in the end you would have to get rid of the ameircan mink first but hard to tell wich one is wich ,,,so a hunter may accidently kill an european one ,,even he didnt ment to
the golden jackal which has recently migrated to Europe can hunt and control nutria and raccoons and since they are recent they might spread across Europe.
is it really recent ? i know that we have these guys in austria and documents about them in hungary etc date back quite some years ( 80 +) so theyr prob where travelign to europe for a long time prob got to much huntet back then ,,,but now with hunting calming down they look like theyr are more common now
I’d love to see a series of very odd and rare non native species, such as the rhea in Germany. Or a series of species that have non native populations that have conservation value.
Except for the mammals, I would say the largemouth bass is the perfect counter species to control these invasive populations. The only downside really is the fact that they could desolate native fish species as well (since largemouth eat anything and everything that can fit in their mouth)
Pumpkin seed sunfish and crayfish are some of my favorite foods. Pan fry sunfish and look up some Louisiana crayfish recipes. If enough people start to eat sunnies and crayfish, it will help out Europes environment
The fun fact is that without the surge of signal crayfish populations, the Eurasian otter might've actually been gone from my home country of Belgium, but reintroductions in the early 2000's have seen the otter population steadily increase with great vigor and growth of signal crayfish have been notably stunted by this reintroduction effort The grey herron is also protected in belgium (I think in the UK as well) because they actually are a good omen. ANywhere you find a grey herron means the water itself and the ecosystem are healthy enough to sustain a proper fish and wildlife population.
I mean, the grey heron is also one of the main predators of invasive species of crayfish. Here in Italy recent studies showed how, in some regions, the wads of this birds may be composed from 80 to 100% of crayfishes exoskeletons
About 40 years ago I read a newspaper story of a town meeting in Westchester county NY which was attended by long term suburbanites and a minority of recent transplants from the city. The agenda was about the raccoon problem. When some transplants objected to killing raccoons because they were “cute”, the meeting erupted. I have personally seen the results of a raccoon invasion in a home and it ain’t pretty. They investigate everything, pulling everything out of closets, drawers and cabinets and they are belligerent.
I once heard that our Rats in Amsterdam not only eat human food, but are happily hunting for American crayfish in the canals. We hve underground garbage containers, so less food for rats than in cities with garbage days so while not overfeeding them we turn our rats in hunters for invasive4 crayfish.
Here in my part of France there are no signal crayfish yet but we do have the swamp crawfish, there used to be the native crayfish but I have not seen one for many years. I have a lot of trouble from Coypu (Ragondin) but recent drought years have reduced their numbers, but there are still enough to rip out the roots of water plants, I think that there are also Muskrats, they look like Coypu but smaller they eat freshwater mussels, and I think that Coypu are vegetarians, and around lakes you can find piles of empty mussel shells. I have never seen an Otter here or seen anything that may be Otter spraint, but if they did arrive I expect that they may decimate my carp stocks, which of course historically are also an introduced species.
That 'pumpkinseed' fish is, locally for me, referred to as a Brim and Sunfish. Seems to depend on its habitat. A very widespread species with varied camo patterns depending on habitat. Used to trap a 1/2 gallon every few days to feed my cats.
Red fox not endemic to Europe? Are you sure? EDIT I see, not endemic as not restricted to Europe. I was thinking of the meaning of the word when related to diseases.
Beside raccoons from the US there is Common raccoon dog from Russian Siberia. They are also very smart weasel like beasts and outcompete every European speacies. But to help to restore native European wolf population can control those beasts.
Many invasive species in the US are from the....US. for instance, the Rocky Mountains were a great barrier for many species from reaching the west coast. But, bull frogs have been introduced and are taking over many water ways
problem is that in most of europe species like the signal crayfish, Chinese mitten crab or pumpkinseed rarely reach the sizes/weights which would make them a useful catch. All while they still displace our common species. Same goes for invasive species like the Round Goby, which stays pretty tiny in the adult form so that one hardly gets a decent meal out of them even if you catch a lot. The adult Round Goby I catch here in Germany are just around 10-15cm with very little meat on them, while in its places of origin (in and around the black sea and caspian sea) they grow up to 25cm while also shifting the meat to useless stuff ratio shifts in favor of meat. As for bullfrogs, apart from the french hardly anyone has any frog on the menue ... amphibian isnt liked by most europeans. fur is also noones fancy anymore, and not just because of the negative image but also because of how much effort such clothing is (cleaning, preventing pests, production cost, etc.). Those problems aint solved by humans, they are here to stay and all we can hope for is that our natural species manage to adapt so that a balance is restored before extinction happens.
Commercial use has never been an effective method of invasive control, and if they became economically significant people would start breeding instead of catching them from nature. There's also the fact that allowing fishing liberally in invaded waters caused lots of incidental deaths as well for native species.
It's delicious. Once caught you do need to keep them in clean water for a week and feed them on potato peels to purge them. After that just cook them up like a lobster.
I often like to hunt some of the invasive species (for food) in the UK. You get all the satisfaction from the hunt (very difficult to explain to anyone who has not experienced it) plus the satisfaction that you have helped in at least a small way.
There is no talk about coyotes. I am sure they can deal with raccoons, and they are becoming more and more prevalent in cities. More and more pet cats and dogs are killed by coyotes. If they ever get into Australia, the red fox problem will be over, but there will probably be a much bigger problem with coyotes.
@David Hudson 1 v 1 the racoon if it's a big racoon you would be surprised, most times the coyote will leave them unless it's a baby. I've seen Coyotes and raccoons on my trail cam at the same time completely uninterested in eachother. Coyotes are opportunitists that look for the easiest food sources possible and a cornered angry Raccoon is not an easy meal. They'd rather hunt rodents, ground dwelling birds, fawns and pets.
Eat the crayfish, problem solved. Seriously, they are delicious, the biggest problem with so-called invasive species is that people have forgotten that we are supposed to be eating these creatures and are instead eating only what is advertised. Also Coypu is delicious, like sheep or goat or pigeon or deer. It is a sumptuous delightful red meat.
Do people in Europe eat crayfish/crawfish like they do in the US?? If this was introduced to their palate they may find a solution to the signal crayfish
in the netherlands i have seen seagulls catch and eat the crayfish and a lot, they would get them out of the small river and eat them on a parking lot it was full of dead crayfish they only eat the back side when i was there i was like wtf wy do i see all tese mini lobsters and then a seagull came flying in with one in his beek and started eating it on the parking lot
well as for larger land carnivores there are 3 that werent named. the black bear, the lynx and the european badger. in fresh waters there are also carps, pikes and the wels catfish.
It is weird that so many invasive species in North America are from Asia, and get shipped here in cargo ships, or stuck on the outsides of those ships. In Europe , where they only would have had to walk (or grow) westward, you seem to have American hemisphere invasives instead! How did that happen?
Our metaphors are mistaken concerning invasive species. Our rhetoric always runs toward a war/fight, this is mistaken. When an invasive species finds a niche in an ecosystem it does its fhing , causing disruption of the local ecosystem. We dwell on this but fail to note that the native ecosystem also adapts to make use of the invasive species. In short evolution works. In this video all those native species that are said to be "fighting" invasive species could just as accurately be described as coming to depend on the invasives. Beyond that the invasives can interact with each other in beneficial ways. If bullfrogs and crayfish are cause for comcern isn't the raccon a useful cog in the local ecosystem? Beyond all this all these invasive species are evolving into new species. Someday European pumpkinseeds, coypu and bullfrogs will full species in their own rights.
@@nautilus2612 Suffering doesn't matter? Merry Christmas then. Perhaps an organization could be formed to persue this pure natural history. Might I suggest the name Disiples Against Life Exploring (new) Kinds of Senarios (DALEKS). Anyways thats enough snark holidays. May you truely have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Read up on how the Pinemartin ( Ireland’s largest carnivore) and mortal enemy of the Red Squirrel is responsible for their recovery in Ireland, particularly in the west of Ireland. They prey preferentially on the invasive Grey Squirrel, who has not adapted to the Pinemartin. Grey’s tend to come down from trees to forage on the ground and move from tree to tree, while Red’s are more elusive, stay in the trees. So the ironic recovery of the Red Squirrel population in Ireland is due to their natural enemy , preferentially preying on the invasive Grey Squirrels.
The invasive Round Goby has found itself plenty of predators which happily take them as prey. It seems especially the Zander and Perch signed on to make them their favorite meal ... judging by what I found in the fish I caught in the more recent years. Yet I still have my doubts that is enough to manage the numbers, for example in the river Elbe I barely catch anything else besides Goby lately whenever I use worm or maggots as bait. As an angler one might hope that the predator species grow in number accordingly, but that wont make it easier for our other european fish species which already have to fight over food with the Goby and now also have to deal with a growing number of predators.
The guy who released the raccoons in Kassel (Germany) was in fact Hermann Göring.
We even have an exterminator whose only job it is to deal with raccoons, logically called "Raccoon Man"
Thats an urban legend and proven to be wrong. In fact, the Nazi government was against the idea to release raccoons.
My new favourite superhero
In Britain they've found that American grey squirrel populations have decreased in forests with healthy pine marten populations.
Yup, the pine martens probably find the grey squirrels more delicious, considering they are much bigger than many native squirrel species, including the European red squirrel.
@@beastmaster0934 I believe it has more to do with the way the squirrels forage. Grey squirrels in their native habitats are mostly preyed upon when they're on the ground so they feel safe in the trees, whereas red squrirels have evolved with a tree-dwelling predator (aka the marten) so they're more cautious and make less easy prey.
@@atw123451 I think Stands reason that Grey squirrels will get eradicated a lot easier than the red counterparts
@@jamessparkman6604 Really?Why? Is that why greys vastly out-number reds today?
@@birdie1585 Think about it grey squirrels are not adaptive to UK soil but red ones certainly are
I think a good one to add would have been the native pine marten and invasive grey squirrels. Pine martens are the only animals preventing red squirrels from being completely wiped out by the greys
Don't worry. Some humans with rifles are trying to help.
More rubbish.
Pine martens were like hens' teeth until recent years, even in their strongholds, basically in Scotland. Anyone who thinks that martens choose prey by colour is living in fantasy land - they only eat greys!!!!!!!
@@birdie1585 Other beasts that would have a fine meal in a fat squirrel:
White tailed eagle(Halieeatus albicilla) The closest living relative of the bald eagle. Prefers fish, but bald eagle will not turn down fat juicy grey squirrel and its European brother has uncannily similar habits. Create suitable nesting and Bob's your uncle, Fanny's your Aunt. Bye bye grey squirrel and overpopulation of rabbits. The UK govt. has been telling porky pies!!
Buzzard (buteo buteo) Guess which bird in North America occupies the same ecological niche as this guy-BINGO! It has a relative! Buteo jaimacensis, aka red -tailed hawk. Looks very similar to the buzzard; you would have to look at the tail feathers and weigh them to tell them apart. The red tails live from Canada to the Caribbean and there is a healthy population of them in NEW YORK CITY, BOSTON, etc.
A city can be a hawky heaven for this bird of prey and why nobody has looked into trying it on London with its sibling is mind boggling. Rats, grey squirrels too stupid to get out of the way, pigeons that poop everywhere: in other words, an all you can eat buffet for a member of Accipitrae.
Eagle owl: Do I even have to explain?! Biiig friggin' owl. King and Lord of the Hooty Hoots. Naw, one of the largest owls in Europe could not POSSIBLY look at a 2 lb squirrel like humans look at a bucket of extra crispy when it has little fluffbals in the nest /s.
@@marykatherinegoode2773 Please do not preach of which you know nothing.
Buzzards, sparrowhawks and kestrel are common diurnal birds of prey across virtually all of the UK where there is suitable habitat - including cities - I have watched a buzzard try to take wood-pigeon squabs from a nest in a clump of lilac in the tiny front garden of a house on the outskirts of Birmingham.
Peregrines are not uncommon, especially within cities. The only threats to BOP within cities is traffic (and disease and starvation, but that is universally the case).
Those apart, we have good numbers of osprey, and tiny, but increasing numbers of golden eagle, but they ARE NOT birds of cramped spaces within cities, or, even less, stands of timber - they are birds of wide-open spaces. Other BOP are scarce and highly specialised in habitat requirements.
Our largest native resident owl that is anywhere near common is the tawny.
There are essentially no common, or even sparsely distributed, native, aeriel or arboreal predators in the UK that operate within tree canopies, leave alone woods/forests.
ALL predators exploit easy prey, and that is NOT grey squirrels. I suspect that I eat as many grey squirrels as do the vast majority of predators in the UK, avian or mammalian. It will be on the www somewhere, but my guess would be that the most significant predator of grey squirrels in the UK, is domestic cats.
Maybe the UK should follow the historic example of countries like Australia and introduce specific predators to control other introduced species?
@@birdie1585 It's more a case of Red Squirrels have prey instincts for Pine Martens, whereas Grey Squirrels do not. So Pine Martens are more successful at preying upon Grey Squirrels than Reds
Golden jackals also regularly take down coypu and muskrats in Ukraine and the Caucasus. Plus, unlike foxes, they might be able to take on adult raccoons as opposed to just their young.
I've never heard of these, cool!
Great, let the UK introduce an African species to control another introduced species.
BRILLIANT idea!!! Australia would go for that (NOT).
Check out the body weights - jackal v racoon.
@@birdie1585 Golden jackals aren't native to Africa
Never knew how survivable are coypu outside south america. They are very resilient.
Wow. Love videos like these. Here in the Philippines there are countless numbers of invasive species as well.
Such as Americans
Many dont realise that apples are not native to north america, however it being pretty hardy means it recolonises clear cut areas pretty soon after clearing, attracting animals to bring scat and seeds as they are also an important food source for native animals. Like the dandelion, they dont have any noticable negative impact.
Just because a species is non native does not make it invasive, there are plenty of examples of this.
@@thedoomofred5174 yeah thats the thing though, im not sure the tern invasive is supposed to conotatively similar with a negative impact. What im saying is that invssive means exactly thst its imvaded as in not supposed to be there, but that shouldnt imply that its automatically bad for the environment. Mullein is another example, its non native and technically invasive, but its also one of the first things to recolonise cleared areas with damaged topsoil and seems to prefer it, trapping leaves that improve soil quality. It also only lives about two years but not so prolific that it crowds anything else out.
@@nunyabisnass1141, the term you’re looking for is exotic or introduced. Invasive species can be both native or introduced, the definition can be fairly subjective but if it causes property damages or requires interventions to reduce its population it’s likely to be considered invasive.
Another potential term for such a species would probably be naturalized. Since they have been able to find a niche in a new ecosystem without causing significant harm.
@@thedoomofred5174 yeah, that's fair. I mean my grievences with the confusing nature of how some words are used doesnt really have anything to do with the topic, i just really dont like it.
I live in Serbia and here we have a lake that was full of what you called pumpkinseed fish... It was all over the place! Became rather dominant and it's surprisingly aggressive. Local predators were not plentiful or interested in it...
So, after a while, the perch was introduced and released into the lake in large numbers. It took a while, but now the numbers of pumpkinseed fish is under control...
Pumpkinseeds are good to eat. Not as good as Perch, though.
Most underrated channel on RUclips!
I love watching otters eat ! They’re so messy but mesmerizing.
haha yeah its satisfying watching them chomp
“Life breaks free. Life expands to new territories. Painfully, perhaps even dangerously. But life finds a way.”
― Michael Crichton, Jurassic Park
I hear you are mirroring Ian Malcolm’s words from Jurassic Park
@@jamessparkman6604 YES
@@hsdinoman2267 Could you write a letter to an editor
@@jamessparkman6604 mm no
The Signal crayfish had been seen in our local river. But not anymore. I seen at least 8 near a bridge and they were Huge. the next week I went back and there was broken shell fragments everywhere not long after a chap that set up a wildlife camera over that same stretch told me that although his camera did not catch the spot where the crayfish were, he has recording of two otters heading in their direction and lots of splashing was heard and seen.
Stories like this and then just how mfkin cute Otters are make it hard to not see them as anything but a net good
Predators are very important in keeping balance , you should see the effect the re introduction of wolves in yellow stone park
@@ThomasDoubting5 so true. Trouble is, the signal crayfish are not native here. Otters due to pollution mostly became rare but their numbers are climbing now.
Sorry but from my experience otters are not interested in crays if any other foodstuff is present. I say this as a river keeper. We have several otters and a massive cray problem that I have to deal with. In the otter spraint I will find fish bone and scale, feather and fur but never cray shell . I’ve been following and filming the otters increase for several years now and am yet to find any sign of crayfish in their diet. I often find shell in heron pellets though. When I leave crays out from trapping even the badgers get in on the free snack... but not our otters!
@@stuartrichardson6928 I respect your opinion but what destroyed them then? There's little else that could. The fragments were all over the river banks and in the river. Otters hang around that stretch and poss live there . No mink have been sighted down there. This was confirmed by the bloke with the wildlife cameras on the river.
the coypu looks like its half way in between a beaver and a muskrat in terms of size and shape.
When I was in middle school in the late '70s, I met a nutria paddling in the stream at the bottom of my parent's garden in Maryland. I don't know how that one got there but I went back to the house and brought it a carrot. I spent a happy quarter of an hour, feeding the carrot to the nutria. It looked very much like a beaver but it was smaller with a shorter body and a distinctly round tail. I never saw it again after that day and I haven't seen others since.
The area where I live, a rural town in central Italy was overrun by the Louisiana red crayfish a couple of decades ago. Coincidentally the number of grey herons and great white herons is skyrocketed and the number of invasive crayfish decreased
Same here in eastern Spain marshes, but in this case with the Glossy ibis. 15 years ago its presence was scarce and usually in passage or winter days. At this moment it's not strange to spot flocks of them with 500-2000 birds, it's amazing. Nonetheless, Louisiana crayfish is still high in number.
We call the glossy ibis "Mignattaio", there are a few populations in Italy but they are quite a rare sight... Never seen one myself, you are quite a lucky devil
@@andreabertini3788 Here is called "Morito" (in Spanish) and "Picatort" (in Valencian). Despite the insanely fast growth of their populations and how easily they're now spotted in such huge flocks, I still can remember the joy of those first sights of the species around the year 2008, with barely 5-10 birds together.
Good to know the common names of some animals in various sister languages. By the way, are you from Valencia?
@@andreabertini3788 Yes 😊
you mentioned Pike. Pike in North America have been documented to be food agressive to a great many things, including human extremities. Bet they can do a number on Coypu, not to mention Wells Catfish (But we don't want to be pitting Invasive Species against Invasive species now, do we?)
well our europaen pike is also quite agressive and will try to eat a lot ,,,and swallow it when it fits in his mouth
like ducklings ,,smaller birds and mammals
the diffrence is
america have like 10 predatory catfish species
and like what 5 or 6 pike species
Europe on the other hand have like 2 native catfish
and 2 native pike spec
and even then theyr moslty one one of them really common while the rest is fragmentet or just native to one river or lake
@@Kurominos1 But never a coypu - laughable comment from ruclips.net/channel/UCYq7mObMZZAaFFcClDhn9-Q
Keep it up bro.
In France the european otter almost disapared, but during the last decades and since they are protected by the law, they made an impressive comeback in some regions. One of the possible reasons for this comeback is the presence of signal crayfish that are present everywhere and in a great numbers. It will definitely help regulating their populations but unfortunately it is too late for the native species which are almost only found in isolated areas or in the upper parts of streams and the populations are slowly decreasing because of the crayfish plague...
How to solve the raccoon trouble in Germany: remember that the wolves in North America will gladly have a raccoon for lunch, and it is likely that the Eurasian lynx would have a nice meal of it, too. Brown bears might have it as a snack. And given the current troubles with oil, kindly note that they have nice warm fur. (normally I am not a fan of furs as clothes, but since the raccoon is not a native and if things get really bad, by all means, make coats!!)
Making wild caught invasives into fur coats is a fashion trend I can support.
The problem is that while wolves and Lynx are slowly returning to germany they're mostly limited to very rural areas, national parks and large forests, while racoons are doing very well in urban areas, just like foxes! So they wolves and lynx are not gonna be very helpful there.
@@Qbliviens if the raccoons become completely limited to cities and nonviable outside them it's a big win. Cities are basically our custom sub-biomes where all natural balance was thrown out of the window centuries ago; raccoons don't harm them much besides annoying humans.
unfortunately the number of wolfs is still quite low.
lynx have also gone down in numbers over the past few decades and brown bears are extinct in germany outside zoo´s.
the last wild brown bear seen in germany was shot a week or so later for getting too close to human habitation.
@@uteriel282 True, but the government has to accept 2 things: 1) you cannot keep the wild beasts already present in Eastern Europe out forever 2) Kipling's poem "Law of the Jungle" applies.
Very true, very true, the brown bear can be very scary. Its cousin the grizzly has attacked a few people over the years and putting up an electric fence around crops in places like Alberta, well, that is normal: once the bear had found your apple tree, you LET HIM FINISH. And young children should NEVER be allowed in the woods alone without Papa or Mama-that tiny part of the Brothers Grimm is true.
But if they were allowed to return, the raccoons would not stand a chance. Brown bears have big appetites and they would outcompete the raccoons for certain foods and have the raccoon for dessert. They would also chow down on boar.
Give it time. I doubt the wolves are going to stay where they are forever.
Another interesting thing about the signal crayfish: In Switzerland there recently has been a push to revitalize the rivers and bring back their longitudinal connectivity, because they are all chopped up into segments by dams etc. While this sounds great for many reasons, these isolated segments of the rivers are also the only safe space left for the native stone crayfish, which gets completely outcompeted by the signal crayfish. So now they got a dilemma on their hands, either keep the artificial river segmentations and protect the stone crayfish or return the river to its natural state and let the signal crayfish take over.
There government should heavily promote signal crayfish consumption and subsidize businesses that process and sell them. Then connect the rivers. After that they can let the destructive powers of unbridled industry kill them off.
As an American, I know the pumpkinseed fish well. We call them panfish because they are tasty little fish. Get your fishing gear and go control those fish.
Up next can you do 3 native Australian species that hunt and control invasive species is australia is full of invasive species
Yep i will do at some point :)
@@TsukiCove Joke!!!
I have a video idea. Maybe like 5 Animals that live the longest
yeah i've done videos similar to that before nut i can always do another :)
I’m so excited to watch this 100% going to be good 😊
JEREMIAH WAS A BULLFROG,
WAS A GOOD FRIEND OF MINE.
I NEVER UNDERSTOOD A SINGLE WORD HE SAID,
BUT I HELPED HIM DRINK HIS WINE.
YOU KNOW HE ALWAYS HAD SOME MIGHTY FINE WINE.-Three Dog Night
why is it nobody ever mentions that some invasives like bull frogs, signal crayfish and with some work coypu(nutria) are also pretty good to eat and no seasons no limits.
they are great to eat. I do recommend them as alternatives to native species' equivalent.
When Russia was richer and trade more free, nutria (coypu) pelts got $4 in the US.
@@Bacopa68 that's how they became such an invasive in the southern US and they are kind of a delicacy in the places they "escaped " and established
The otter could be put as one those predators for the pumpkin and bullfrog. Otters REALLY love frogs and Salamanders and obviously aint scared of some little fishie ;)
Cool new video bro.
Is interesting how animals that can be endangered in their native countries become super successful in others.
its mostly cause in theyr native country theyh ave predators and other animals to competet with
but if you put it into a new ecosystem it can in many cases spread cuase no competition and predators never seen it before
Very interesting, thanks!
Awesome vid man!!
Raccoons would help with your crawfish problem, and unlike the otters, will not have as much of an effect on the fish populations. Smallmouth bass would put a big dent in them as well, but would probably outcompete the other fish.
Here in North Italy we have a huge nutria problem, as we have a large area known as "Pianura Padana" which resembles their native habitat very well (flat, humid, rainy, with many rivers - much like their native pampa). You cam just walk by any river and see loads of nutrias...the problem is that they might compete with local beavers
3:30 coypus is very tasty to eat, better than rabbit and hare and very good for a protheic sportive diet
Not gonna lie when you said the red fox i was really surprised I thought you where referring to the golden jackals
"I am an invasive species from north America!" Do you know how little that narrows it down?
Yeah, the Nutria is from South America. It's considered an invasive species in North America too.
Euroape has a many invasive species from the us
as the Us have invasive species from Europe Xd
@@Kurominos1 That doesn't really narrow things down either.
Could the signal crayfish actually save the European mink? I heard that mink populations collapsed due to the native crayfish dying of plague, so an immune species could help it bounce back.
european mink is also endangered cause in europe lives the invasive american mink who outcompetes them too
so in the end you would have to get rid of the ameircan mink first
but hard to tell wich one is wich ,,,so a hunter may accidently kill an european one ,,even he didnt ment to
the golden jackal which has recently migrated to Europe can hunt and control nutria and raccoons and since they are recent they might spread across Europe.
is it really recent ?
i know that we have these guys in austria
and documents about them in hungary etc date back quite some years ( 80 +)
so theyr prob where travelign to europe for a long time
prob got to much huntet back then ,,,but now with hunting calming down they look like theyr are more common now
I’d love to see a series of very odd and rare non native species, such as the rhea in Germany. Or a series of species that have non native populations that have conservation value.
Except for the mammals, I would say the largemouth bass is the perfect counter species to control these invasive populations. The only downside really is the fact that they could desolate native fish species as well (since largemouth eat anything and everything that can fit in their mouth)
Pumpkin seed sunfish and crayfish are some of my favorite foods. Pan fry sunfish and look up some Louisiana crayfish recipes. If enough people start to eat sunnies and crayfish, it will help out Europes environment
This is a great channel How can we make a donation I have tried with PayPal but it never got collected.
i don't currently think i have donations turned on but it's something i might do in the future thank you for your generosity :)
I love Grey Herons, if I want to find some interesting body of water I look for Grey Herons.
Keep going
The fun fact is that without the surge of signal crayfish populations, the Eurasian otter might've actually been gone from my home country of Belgium, but reintroductions in the early 2000's have seen the otter population steadily increase with great vigor and growth of signal crayfish have been notably stunted by this reintroduction effort
The grey herron is also protected in belgium (I think in the UK as well) because they actually are a good omen. ANywhere you find a grey herron means the water itself and the ecosystem are healthy enough to sustain a proper fish and wildlife population.
I mean, the grey heron is also one of the main predators of invasive species of crayfish. Here in Italy recent studies showed how, in some regions, the wads of this birds may be composed from 80 to 100% of crayfishes exoskeletons
About 40 years ago I read a newspaper story of a town meeting in Westchester county NY which was attended by long term suburbanites and a minority of recent transplants from the city. The agenda was about the raccoon problem. When some transplants objected to killing raccoons because they were “cute”, the meeting erupted. I have personally seen the results of a raccoon invasion in a home and it ain’t pretty. They investigate everything, pulling everything out of closets, drawers and cabinets and they are belligerent.
Where was the shot at :47 taken?
Its beautiful.
I once heard that our Rats in Amsterdam not only eat human food, but are happily hunting for American crayfish in the canals. We hve underground garbage containers, so less food for rats than in cities with garbage days so while not overfeeding them we turn our rats in hunters for invasive4 crayfish.
Here in my part of France there are no signal crayfish yet but we do have the swamp crawfish, there used to be the native crayfish but I have not seen one for many years. I have a lot of trouble from Coypu (Ragondin) but recent drought years have reduced their numbers, but there are still enough to rip out the roots of water plants, I think that there are also Muskrats, they look like Coypu but smaller they eat freshwater mussels, and I think that Coypu are vegetarians, and around lakes you can find piles of empty mussel shells. I have never seen an Otter here or seen anything that may be Otter spraint, but if they did arrive I expect that they may decimate my carp stocks, which of course historically are also an introduced species.
That 'pumpkinseed' fish is, locally for me, referred to as a Brim and Sunfish. Seems to depend on its habitat. A very widespread species with varied camo patterns depending on habitat. Used to trap a 1/2 gallon every few days to feed my cats.
Wow I thought those were actually beavers, I live in czechia, do I report them somewhere?
This a cool video
where i live in steamboat co our lake is infested by rusty crayfish
Will it be fine if introduce the predators of this invasive species from there native habitats
Red fox not endemic to Europe? Are you sure? EDIT I see, not endemic as not restricted to Europe. I was thinking of the meaning of the word when related to diseases.
In a lake in Sweden I caught a nice Pike... His belly was loaded up with the crayfish .....
The grey heron looks just like the great blue in the US.
yeah it was so annoying getting footage because they're quite hard to tell apart
Beside raccoons from the US there is Common raccoon dog from Russian Siberia. They are also very smart weasel like beasts and outcompete every European speacies.
But to help to restore native European wolf population can control those beasts.
in Sweden we eat tons upon tons of signal crayfish every august(crayfishseason), they are delicious
Many invasive species in the US are from the....US. for instance, the Rocky Mountains were a great barrier for many species from reaching the west coast. But, bull frogs have been introduced and are taking over many water ways
I am wondering if the reintroduction of wolves will help keep the racoons in check a bit more.
Crayfish, pumpkinseed and bullfrogs are delicious. Nutria and raccoon both make nice coats and hats. This problem is solving itself.
problem is that in most of europe species like the signal crayfish, Chinese mitten crab or pumpkinseed rarely reach the sizes/weights which would make them a useful catch. All while they still displace our common species. Same goes for invasive species like the Round Goby, which stays pretty tiny in the adult form so that one hardly gets a decent meal out of them even if you catch a lot. The adult Round Goby I catch here in Germany are just around 10-15cm with very little meat on them, while in its places of origin (in and around the black sea and caspian sea) they grow up to 25cm while also shifting the meat to useless stuff ratio shifts in favor of meat.
As for bullfrogs, apart from the french hardly anyone has any frog on the menue ... amphibian isnt liked by most europeans.
fur is also noones fancy anymore, and not just because of the negative image but also because of how much effort such clothing is (cleaning, preventing pests, production cost, etc.).
Those problems aint solved by humans, they are here to stay and all we can hope for is that our natural species manage to adapt so that a balance is restored before extinction happens.
More like die buzzkill.
Fur is excellent. Saying otherwise is living in denial.
i would think a lynx would be happy to take a racoon or the herbivor.
Bullfrog, pumpkinseed, and gray squirrel are all good eating.
There’s a lot of invasive species in London
Is the signal crayfish good to eat ? If so, why not just catch them all and eat them all ? Real question
Commercial use has never been an effective method of invasive control, and if they became economically significant people would start breeding instead of catching them from nature. There's also the fact that allowing fishing liberally in invaded waters caused lots of incidental deaths as well for native species.
So I'm guessing that the Signal Crayfish isn't a delicacy to humans?
It's delicious. Once caught you do need to keep them in clean water for a week and feed them on potato peels to purge them. After that just cook them up like a lobster.
In Australia the worst imported problem is the cane toad that nothing can eat all that do die a slow painful death,
Pelican is a predators of the the pumpkin seed and bullfrog
I often like to hunt some of the invasive species (for food) in the UK. You get all the satisfaction from the hunt (very difficult to explain to anyone who has not experienced it) plus the satisfaction that you have helped in at least a small way.
How do you hunt in the UK? The minute you pull out an air rifle some Karen will call the swat team...
@@Mrniceguy2209 Most "Karens" in the UK don't dare venture into the real countryside and content themselves pouring milk over supermarkets- lol.
As someone who's hunted raccoon I have a a hard time seeing a fox take down a raccoon...
There is no talk about coyotes. I am sure they can deal with raccoons, and they are becoming more and more prevalent in cities. More and more pet cats and dogs are killed by coyotes. If they ever get into Australia, the red fox problem will be over, but there will probably be a much bigger problem with coyotes.
@David Hudson 1 v 1 the racoon if it's a big racoon you would be surprised, most times the coyote will leave them unless it's a baby. I've seen Coyotes and raccoons on my trail cam at the same time completely uninterested in eachother. Coyotes are opportunitists that look for the easiest food sources possible and a cornered angry Raccoon is not an easy meal. They'd rather hunt rodents, ground dwelling birds, fawns and pets.
The cormorant is is desolating entire archipelagos in scandinavia, primarily in sweden I believe...
Pine marten and the grey squirrel.
Eat the crayfish, problem solved.
Seriously, they are delicious, the biggest problem with so-called invasive species is that people have forgotten that we are supposed to be eating these creatures and are instead eating only what is advertised.
Also Coypu is delicious, like sheep or goat or pigeon or deer. It is a sumptuous delightful red meat.
"or pigeon" ay yo what ??
Here in Hungary the Quagga mussel and the Zebra mussel cause problems. The native species are slowly being displaced.
Hognose & Cane Toads?
Do people in Europe eat crayfish/crawfish like they do in the US?? If this was introduced to their palate they may find a solution to the signal crayfish
in the netherlands i have seen seagulls catch and eat the crayfish and a lot, they would get them out of the small river and eat them on a parking lot it was full of dead crayfish they only eat the back side when i was there i was like wtf wy do i see all tese mini lobsters and then a seagull came flying in with one in his beek and started eating it on the parking lot
Do you know the location of the footage behind the title screen?
well as for larger land carnivores there are 3 that werent named.
the black bear, the lynx and the european badger.
in fresh waters there are also carps, pikes and the wels catfish.
Carps are not native to Europe
@@nautilus2612
carps are native to europe...
google it if you dont believe me.
I feel New "meta" for ing In the nature soon
2:22
Who said it HAD to be a fish?
In the Netherlands these crayfish are actually hunted and eaten by seagulls!
wow me as a German always thought raccoons are native here xD but once we hopefully get enough wolves back they could also hunt them i guess
Wolves can hunt adult coypu
We need more Otters.
Hi love your videos go europe
I'm glad you like them and ill keep them coming :)
It is weird that so many invasive species in North America are from Asia, and get shipped here in cargo ships, or stuck on the outsides of those ships. In Europe , where they only would have had to walk (or grow) westward, you seem to have American hemisphere invasives instead! How did that happen?
U could also name the title "when animals act smarter than humans"
Our metaphors are mistaken concerning invasive species. Our rhetoric always runs toward a war/fight, this is mistaken.
When an invasive species finds a niche in an ecosystem it does its fhing , causing disruption of the local ecosystem. We dwell on this but fail to note that the native ecosystem also adapts to make use of the invasive species. In short evolution works.
In this video all those native species that are said to be "fighting" invasive species could just as accurately be described as coming to depend on the invasives. Beyond that the invasives can interact with each other in beneficial ways. If bullfrogs and crayfish are cause for comcern isn't the raccon a useful cog in the local ecosystem?
Beyond all this all these invasive species are evolving into new species. Someday European pumpkinseeds, coypu and bullfrogs will full species in their own rights.
I don't care about what happens in millions of years, I care about the safety of my natural heritage right now as I exist.
@@nautilus2612 So its all about what we want? No matter how much suffering and destruction the pursuit of what we think should be causes?
@@tadblackington1676 Suffering doesn't matter, the preservation of natural heritage does. Environmentalism is a practical matter
@@nautilus2612 Suffering doesn't matter? Merry Christmas then. Perhaps an organization could be formed to persue this pure natural history. Might I suggest the name Disiples Against Life Exploring (new) Kinds of Senarios (DALEKS).
Anyways thats enough snark holidays. May you truely have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Grey squirrels...in Germany we still have the red ones but when i visit England i only see the grey squirrels. I hope they stay there
Read up on how the Pinemartin ( Ireland’s largest carnivore) and mortal enemy of the Red Squirrel is responsible for their recovery in Ireland, particularly in the west of Ireland. They prey preferentially on the invasive Grey Squirrel, who has not adapted to the Pinemartin. Grey’s tend to come down from trees to forage on the ground and move from tree to tree, while Red’s are more elusive, stay in the trees. So the ironic recovery of the Red Squirrel population in Ireland is due to their natural enemy , preferentially preying on the invasive Grey Squirrels.
If fish a lot and, as a result I will sometimes catch a signal crayfish. Whenever that happens, I usually kill them.
L’Otters are not afraid!
First thought about the signal crayfish and impulse is EAT THEM.
Golden Jackal (Şacal) since after WWII.
The invasive Round Goby has found itself plenty of predators which happily take them as prey. It seems especially the Zander and Perch signed on to make them their favorite meal ... judging by what I found in the fish I caught in the more recent years. Yet I still have my doubts that is enough to manage the numbers, for example in the river Elbe I barely catch anything else besides Goby lately whenever I use worm or maggots as bait. As an angler one might hope that the predator species grow in number accordingly, but that wont make it easier for our other european fish species which already have to fight over food with the Goby and now also have to deal with a growing number of predators.
Parasite Flies and Fire Ants?
Humans of the past should have known better.
Pumpkin seed sun fish are tasty. Catch and eat them.
Bring back the lynx, the invasive mammals will be thinned out. Foxes can't handle adult raccoons, but lynxes easily can.