5 Problem Invasive Species In Canada

[Music] hello everyone i hope you're doing well and of course arnie does too in today's video we'll be focusing on the beautiful country of canada its landscape can sometimes be very harsh and unforgiving and this means it's home to some very hardy herbivores and of course some very hardy predators but just like most other countries around the world canada is also home to some invasive species because canada is so close to the united states it shares some of its invasive species with its neighbor and in this video i'll be going through just a few of these creatures as i'll be going through five invasive species in canada and for our first species will be heading to europe asia and north africa as we have the european starling the european starling is a bird of the lowlands normally being found in non-mountainous open areas where they feed on seeds insects plants and fruits as the starling is a relatively small bird reaching an average size of around 20 centimeters it does have to look out for predators many birds of prey target the starlings but they have a very interesting way of avoiding them as they can be found in large flocks known as murmurations and the number of birds in these flocks can be in the tens of thousands and in one instance in denmark a flock of over a million common starlings was observed just before sunset this makes it very hard for predators to pick out an individual target meaning that there is very much safety in numbers the european starling is a migratory species as northeastern populations migrate south in the winter before returning in the summer this starling is also known for its gift of mimicry as just like their fellow birds to parrots they can imitate other birds people and even random sounds that they hear this mimicry ability was so impressive that even william shakespeare wrote about them and if you want to see a video of a starling impersonating r2d2 i'll leave a link to that video in the description down below european starlings were first introduced into north america in new york this was both in 1890 and 1891 the total number of birds was a hundred but now they are thought to be hundreds of thousands of european starlings in north america they soon spread northwards and now many starlings call canada home it's not just canada that's had this treatment as they've also been introduced into australia new zealand and south america these starlings not only compete with native birds but also damage large quantities of crops as these birds are found in such large memorations they can make short worker fields and it's very hard to deal with such a large number of these birds when it comes time to nest this species is also known to be very destructive as their cavity nesters and will create both natural and artificial holes to lay their eggs if they are unable to find a suitable place they'll also hijack other birds nests and even kick out their eggs as these birds are found in such large numbers in north america today the only sensible solution is to coexist peacefully and hopefully the ecosystem will find a balance in the future but for our next species we'll be heading to the freshwaters of eurasia as we have the tench the tensions normally found in slow-moving freshwater habitats such as lakes and lowland rivers in these waters the tentch is known for being very greedy feeding on a variety of plants worms and crustaceans on this diet they can reach a maximum size of around 70 centimeters around 28 inches long the tench is known for being a very hardy fish and can tolerate water with a very low dissolved oxygen content they're so hardy in fact that they're known to be the last surviving fish in any decaying water source because of this hardiness they make very good pond fish and there's even an orange color variant of this species the tench was introduced into the united states in the 19th century as both a food fish and a sport fish later in 1986 they were brought illegally to a farm in quebec and through that farm they found their way into the river systems because of their adaptability and hardiness they're able to survive or many of the other native fish can't and have been able to breed in large numbers the tench competes with native fish such as minnows ball heads and suckers and its feeding strategy can also cause some problems they tend to root around in the substrate for their food which kicks up a lot of detritus this detritus can cause algal blooms which vastly decreases the quality of the water but luckily in canada there are many predators that will happily take out the tench so hopefully their numbers won't get too out of control the for our next species we'll be travelling to pretty much anywhere around the globe as we have the feral pig now the origin of the feral pigs in canada is quite hard to explain as the feral pigs in canada are thought to be hybrids both of the wild boar and domesticated pigs the wild boar that they have hybridized from are native to eurasia and north africa these boar are intelligent powerful and of course very large as they can be as tall as 1.2 meters at the shoulder and weigh up to 100 kilograms these wild boar are very versatile omnivores feeding on a variety of roots nuts berries and seeds as well as insects fish rodents birds and reptiles to get at some of these food items they're known to churn up the earth and they're even known to ransack farms the wild boar were brought to north america from europe in the 1990s for farming purposes these while boar hybridized wood pigs and some of these hybrids either escaped or were freed over the last 27 years the population has grown exponentially and in some areas they are out of control in the colder winter months the adult feral pigs are known to build piglets which help keep their offspring warm intelligent solutions such as this is how they've become so successful in north america but as these pigs can be so destructive when feeding they can cause damage to farms and can even destroy habitats for other animals because of this they're on the list of one of the worst invasive species in north america and there could still be worse to come but for our next species we'll be heading to the coastal waters of europe as we have the european green crab this crab is one of the most common crabs throughout its range and it's normally found in shallow water generally on muddy or sandy substrates in these waters they feed on a variety of intertidal animals such as oysters mussels clams and juvenile crabs on this diet they can reach a maximum size around 10 centimeters or 3.9 inches across the carapace although this may look like a very innocent looking regular crab it's one of the worst invasive species in the world and has a massive impact on ecosystems and native wildlife green crabs were first sighted in canadian waters in 1951 and have since expanded into many other locations in atlantic canada they're known to be very aggressive and territorial and can even survive out of water for several days these crabs are such efficient predators that they out-compete native crabs and have even been known to disrupt eelgrass beds which are an essential habitat for many juvenile fish but the east european green crabs can also damage the economy as they reduce the abundance of species harvested by fishermen there are multiple attempts to try and control the green crab populations but so far this has proven to be a very hard thing to do before our final species we'll be heading to northeastern asia as we have the emerald ash borer this metallic wood boring beetle is normally found in the forested areas of china and russia but unfortunately it can now be found in north america the emerald ash borer likely arrived in north america on wood packing materials in the early 1990s but since then has now spread to 30 states and five provinces although these insects only reach around 8.5 millimeters long they can cause substantial amounts of damage the main problem is caused by their strange life cycle the adult insect will deposit eggs between bark crevices usually on ash trees after hatching these larvae true through the bark and eventually into the inner parts of the tree while feeding they create long serpentine galleries and once they mature they eventually exit the tree this destructive life cycle has killed millions of trees in north america and this insect's numbers look to be on the rise their destruction is so bad in fact that up to 99 of all ash trees are killed within eight to ten years once the beetle has arrived in an area the adult emerald ash borers can also fly which means they can easily move to new woodland areas and cause even more damage the emerald ash borer is also unintentionally transported by humans as the larvae can live in timber for two years so logging operations can sometimes transport this larvae across the country their destruction destroys habitats for many birds and mammals but luckily in some areas native predators such as woodpeckers and other insects have been able to slow the spread and hopefully they won't be a problem for much longer but that's about it for this video if you have any other video suggestions then let me know down in the comments below but thank you for watching i hope you enjoyed if you liked it please leave a like and subscribe before i see more videos like these but until next time goodbye [Music] you

Channel: Tsuki

Views: 77,450

Keywords: invasive species, Canada, invasive, invasive species canada, aquatic invasive species, species, what is invasive species, invasive species list, invasive animal species, why are invasive species bad, invasive fish species, what are invasive species, how to invasive species spread, what does invasive species mean, how to stop invasive species, invasive species in north america, wild boar, feral pig, tench, european green crab, starling, european starling, emerald ash borer, fish, crab

Id: fDriiSvZQHU

Length: 8min 6sec (486 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 06 2021