in February 2022 a young Tik Tok user claiming to live in the UK began creating a frog Army as he put it he noticed some type of eggs in a shallow pond near his home in recent videos he claims to have collected more than 1.4 million eggs that hatched into tadpoles in a backyard pool he buil the goal is to create the largest army of frogs in history other users thought that was cool and bless the video of the insane amphibian breeding with hundreds of millions of views and likes that was the reaction of ecologists the fact that the leader of the army of frogs promised to release a huge number of animals Into the Wild for the sake of popularity only made it worse if I get what subtle means here's a subtle reminder to hit the like button now don't forget about it it's important to us you can't just tilt the balance so heavily in favor of one species in nature have serious consequences even though Tik Tok users might think sorry putting Tik Tok users in thinking in one sentence got me chuckling anyway as usual people think they're helping but they're actually making things worse for other creatures in the environment at the very least they're creating more disease carriers and at worst they're helping an invasive species researchers stress that human-induced frog migration is already a big problem for species once a fungus brought by people during frog relocations led to a mass extinction wiping out more than 90 frog species plus releasing this many frogs could simply be against the law the punishment severity varies by country it's not just because it affects the whole nature of things but also because it harms people the Frog Army quickly started spreading to other people's backyards and one of the user's neighbors was even forced to leave he left without complaining to the police starting a petition or airing his grievances online yeah right he just left no matter how it was with the neighbors things aren't looking so good for the frogs most likely a large portion of frogs will die because they'll all be competing fiercely for food it's no accident that in the wild only a certain percentage of animals of each species survive otherwise they just can't feed themselves plus having a bunch of animals packed together makes it easier for diseases to spread quickly if they suddenly show up that's basically how epidemics tend to go down the big problem here is that one bad thing leads to another like a chain reaction once the Frog Army shows up we might see a sudden drop in insect population because well they'll be eaten it won't do the frogs any favors but that isn't any consolation to the insects and when there are fewer insects it means fewer pollinators and that spells trouble for plants also a big surge in frog numbers can throw off the balance for animals that eat them like foxes hedgehogs and rodents in the UK so if there's an abundance of frogs you'd probably see more foxes sticking around those foxes would then have have more offspring and it's anyone's guess what happens next they'll affect a bunch of other animals plants and even tiny microbes the best outcome the Surplus Fox pups don't make it because the fox frenzy dies down and things go back to normal the thing is many frogs have this habit of going back to The Ponds where they were born so it seems like we'll be dealing with this frog problem for quite a bit longer it's somewhat comforting to believe that the whole frog Army scenario might be a sham cooked up solely for views and likes it seems like they're exaggerating the number of frogs and the location of the video creator chances are he's living out in the stick somewhere trying to scare Tik Tok users and really it's not all that difficult to do whoa check it out a meteor's heading towards Earth just got to capture this moment and upload it to Tik Tok it's really surprising that this isn't just a one-time thing another Tik tocker this time from the US had the same idea he claimed to have released 250,000 ladybugs in Central Park New York City and got slapped with the lawsuit for it he quickly left the US and moved to Colombia to avoid paying the fine it might seem absurd at first but how could someone even think about releasing ladybugs well it started when a guy found out that you could get 100,000 ladybugs for just $75 he promised to organize a ladybug invasion in New York if his post got 30 likes the video got 73.6 th000 likes and 1.5 million views out of 634 comments some weren't in favor of the idea and one user warned that it could lead to a lawsuit and well that's exactly what happened the user got slapped at the $350,000 lawsuit for environmental terrorism he tried to flee got put under house arrest and eventually ended up in Colombia on his second attempt like with frogs there's a chance that this story is just made up even though it's hard to fake videos like these as I mentioned earlier the deception here likely lies in exaggeration having an abundance of ladybugs is never a good thing especially when they're artificially bred just take a look at these Southern United States where ladybug stage annual invasions sure they're helpful bugs for gardeners but still having a swarm of them in your house no thanks ladybugs mainly eat tiny bugs so even with hundreds of thousands in Central Park they won't cause Havoc like a locust swarm plus they would probably starve since there wouldn't be enough food for them in the city where in New York City would they even find that many apids or any other prey for that matter let's face it locusts are the ones who are wrecking nature they've got two modes chill and Chomp when they're chill they're just minding their own business flying solo but when they switch to Chomp mode they transform into voracious monsters these monsters swarm by the millions devouring everything in their path when they gather into a swarm locusts not only alter their behavior but also their appearance researchers have notice that the insect's color can change today we know that Locust turn into monsters when there are lots of other Locus around but here's the thing a transformation happens just from touching their legs or antenna depending on the species yep one Locus touches another and Bam you've got a swarm of ravenous monsters on the loose basically if a bunch of locusts were born in one place they'd end up bumping into each other and quickly turn into a swarm so if someone had the bright idea to purposely gather and breed these bugs in one spot the consequences would be well let's just say disastrous can't express it more explicitly due to YouTube's policies but you get the picture even remote regions can be affected for instance according to National Geographic in 1988 a swarm flew from West Africa to the Caribbean covering over 3100 miles in just 10 days the Locust doesn't just fly around it also eats crops according to a report from the food and agriculture organization of the United Nations the Locust invasion in West Africa from 2003 to 2005 affected 22 countries and wiped out over 80% of the crops those were Giant swarms of insects swarms as big as cities a real plague if you're curious why Locust migrate in the first place it's pretty simple when there's a lot of rain in their habitat locusts start reproducing more a big population needs lots of food to avoid starvation then when things get tight they all scatter to find food farther away actually having too many insects gathered in one place isn't good it doesn't have to be Locust even a bunch of crickets can be a problem in late May and early June 2023 tens of thousands of Mormon Cricut eggs buried about an inch deep in the soil began hatching in Nevada causing chaos this Cricut Invasion hit Elco a small town of around 20,000 people particularly hard every year a new batch of insects hatches from eggs laid in the soil then they gather together and migrate across the region devouring all the vegetation they come across but in 2022 the migration reached the city and it was terrible not only were there crickets everywhere alive and dead but they also left such a horrendous smell like burnt flesh that residents had to plug their noses while driving blame it on the crazy weather first there was a lot of snow all winter then a soggy spring made the Crickets take their sweet time to hatch and when summer drought hit they all decided to come out at once they could have just stayed dormant in the ground for up to 10 years or more but nope it's chow time now Mormon crickets eat local perennial plants bushes and crops reducing food sources for native animals their appetite can lead to soil erosion worsen water quality and deplete soil nutrients potentially harming pasture and farmland ecosystems overall it's not a pretty picture and these aren't even locusts you know it's hard to believe that all of a sudden there'd be a massive surge in the number of one type of animal and nature would be totally cool with it in the Science World that's called overabundant species and it can definitely mess with the balance of an ecosystem it can really throw things off overabundance happens for different reasons sometimes it's natural like when there are heavy rains as seen with locusts other times humans are to blame through their impact on the natural environment the introduction of invasive species and so on overabundance leads to food shortages which in turn cause animal serome in search of it damaging Landscapes ecosystems and causing imbalances in various ways essentially overabundance creates a vicious cycle for the environment since everything in nature is interconnected everyone will suffer these are lion fish and while they might resemble beautiful tropical fish they're a species that produces around 2 million eggs every year so in just one breeding season way too many lion fish are born in the Atlantic and Caribbean it's the breeding habits of lion fish that have made them invasive these predatory fish quickly take over reefs reducing the variety of local marine life female lion fish can produce two egg sacks every 4 days each containing up to 15,000 eggs so each female could end up with a whopping two million eggs per year it's not just a lot those sacks also pack some nasty chemicals that means a lot more eggs hatched than with other fish nobody wants to Chow Down on toxic eggs when there's a safer option available moreover without predators in the new ecosystems lion fish Thrive many fish would rather starve than attack a lion fish so their population grows even larger although it's already too big even if we put in a lot of effort to remove them they'll come back very soon so eradicating them is out of the question question you know what's really intriguing scientists think that it only took three lion fish to Kickstart The Invasion into the Atlantic nobody knows exactly how it happened but those three fish must have popped out millions of eggs and look where we are now they reproduced in an astonishing speed unlike anything seen in the sea before within a few years lion fish transformed from being non-existent in this area to being abundant and this could happen pretty much anywhere with the right climate if the lion fish manage to reproduce they'll do it in such numbers that nothing can stop them afterwards all we'll be left with is dealing with the aftermath this includes local species being consumed or starving because flying fish will devour the food they depended on actually they might just devour everything in sight since these fish have a scary appetite their stomachs can expand by up to 30 times that's some serious munching potential naturally all this hits the fishing industry and even the tourist business hard the invasion of lion fish in Brazil could spell ecological disaster while the young reef fish population in the Bahamas is plummeted by 80% in just 5 weeks lion fish are incredibly destructive wherever they end up these fish wreak havoc on local ecosystems by devouring native species and disrupting food chains so their reputation as one of the most harmful invasive fish is entirely deserved but the last creatures you'd expect trouble from are geese geese how could they possibly cause any harm all right so Canada geese this waterfoul species from the duck family used to nest in some parts of Southern Canada and their populations weren't huge up until the 1960s people were actively hunting them plus messing up their habitats you know the usual stuff then people wisened up and started restoring the populations even relocating Birds to new areas where they hadn't bred before and these new spots turned out to be really comfortable Canada GES started breeding like crazy urbanization helped them Thrive there are hardly any predator in cities and laws protect birds from humans perfect and then the nightmare began today there are around 4 million Canada geese in the USA with an average annual growth rate of 10% over the next 3 years we can expect to see an additional 1.2 million new Birds joining the population yep they sure know how to multiply quickly and efficiently one reason why a small flock can grow rapidly in number is that Canada geese naturally return to their birthplace this means that more and more birds are born in the same place over time they just keep coming increasing the flock size exponentially and it's not just about their numbers they can seriously mess up the environment by overg grazing where Canada geese Nest nothing grows on the ground anymore this affects farming and makes the water quality go downhill because their droppings dissolve in it putting fish at risk plus with fewer plants there are fewer insects for other birds to feed on and less food means less birds for example the sparrow population has suffered greatly when I mention over grazing I mean it's really overboard and the poop problem it's just as bad a fully grown Canada Goose eats about 4 lbs of grass every day and leaves behind roughly the same amount of droppings that means one bird produces around 1,450 lbs of waste a year and Canada geese can live up to 24 years restoring the habitat after these birds would take decades and even then it's not guaranteed that restoration's possible at all wouldn't it be easier if Canada geese didn't breed in such large numbers of course and it would be even better if people didn't interfere with their existence at all could you see if you hit the like button if you did thanks a lot see you later
