Gallery: 9 Great Invasive Species Worth Admiring
01browntreesnake
As the U.S. Navy [bombs Guam with dead, poisoned mice](http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/10/navy-airdrops-dead-drugged-mice/) in the latest attempt to eradicate invasive brown tree snakes (above), it's worth taking a moment to sit back and appreciate -- yes, appreciate -- invasive species. Now, before the environmentalists among you get upset, I'm not suggesting that species invasions are good things. They're not. They throw ecosystems out of whack, crowd out plants and animals we already know and love, and generally cause trouble. But invasive species are living creatures, too. That's easy to forget amidst conservationist concerns, which can seem almost schizophrenic in treasuring some creatures (don't touch that tortoise!), while actively encouraging the extermination of others. So for a few minutes, let's put aside our usual feelings about invasive species, and just talk about some really cool animals. *Image: [Wet Tropics Management Authority](http://www.wettropics.gov.au/), Queensland, Australia.*
02snakehead
Northern Snakehead ------------------ This toothsome Chinese native burst into the American consciousness in the summer of 2002, when their discovery in a Maryland pond raised fears that they'd soon swim and wriggle across the eastern United States. (Yes, wriggle: Snakeheads can survive for hours out of water, and are capable of overland excursions). That fear has yet to materialize, but the hardy fish have been [spotted in the urban waters of New York City](http://www.earthlab.net/?p=279), likely released by aquarium owners as the latest foreign arrivals to America's great immigrant haven. *Image: Flickr, [Kevin Poh](http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinpoh/3533451348/).*
03asiancarp
Asian Carp ---------- Watching the Obama administration and Army Corps of Engineers inexplicably [delay closing the Great Lakes](http://www.freep.com/article/20100207/SPORTS10/2070479/1356/SPORTS/Feds-Asian-carp-plan-all-wet) to this invader, demanding more study even as biologists warn of impending ecological catastrophe and sportfishery destruction, is like watching a disaster in slow-motion. But above it all, sometimes literally, is the Asian carp itself: massive, growing to over 100 pounds, able to eat several times its body weight *every day*. When spooked by boat motors, they have a tendency to leap high out of the water, posing a chest-high impact threat and accomplishing what people never could: making motorboaters slow down. *Image: Steve Morse, University of Missouri*
04kudzu
Kudzu ----- People who live in areas of the southeastern United States where kudzu has overgrown *everything* have little good to say about this Japanese import. To an outsider, however, confronted by mile after homogeneous mile, by kudzu in the shape of towering trees or telephone poles inside, it's extraordinary. And who knows, perhaps "the plant that ate the South" will [make for good biofuel](http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/06/16/kudzu-biofuel-ethanol.html). *Image: [Kitten Wants](http://www.flickr.com/photos/mape_s/333863470/), Flickr.*
05boars
Wild Boar --------- A suburbanized, ecologically fragmented America has little room for seriously big native animals. Moose stay in what remains of New England's wilds; undomesticated bison are restricted to a few Great Plains patches; grizzly bear are practically gone; elk are — well, great, but they're not huge. But the wild boar, brought to the United States by Spanish settlers in the 16th century, is now found throughout the southeast. These animals can grow to 10 feet or more in length, and an weigh more than 1,000 pounds. When one Georgia hunter shot an especially massive hog — now [known as Hogzilla](http://www.wesjones.com/hogswild.htm) — it made the cover of the late, great *Weekly World News*. But unlike [Bat Boy](http://is.gd/gDMbm) or the [shaved ape baby adopted by Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden](http://is.gd/gDMEK), however, Hogzilla was real. *Image: [Marieke Ijsendoom-Kuijpers](http://www.flickr.com/photos/mape_s/333863470/), Flickr.*
06burmesepython
Burmese Python -------------- Thanks to its tropical climate, zoo-wrecking hurricanes and a greater-than-usual number of people with a hankering for fashionably exotic pets, Florida is an invasive-species mecca. Squirrel monkeys, capybara, Gambian pouch rats, scorpions, Butterfly Peacock fish, a menagerie of parakeets, [the list](http://www.myfwc.com/WILDLIFEHABITATS/Nonnative_index.htm) goes on, and on and on. But of all these newcomers, one stands out: the Burmese python. One of the world's largest snakes, they run 12 feet long on average, move with equal ease between land, water and trees, and are known to eat, [with disastrous consequences](http://www.flickr.com/photos/justinbaeder/49847221/), full-grown alligators. *Image: National Park Service.*
07nilemonitor
Nile Monitor Lizard ------------------- With more invasive lizard species than natives, Florida scores a second mention. Nile monitor lizards are not as big as Burmese pythons, maxing out around 6 feet long, but unlike the snakes, these razor-toothed, dagger-clawed predators are known to *hunt in packs*. Combine that with swimming prowess and the ability to outrun a man, and I, for one, welcome our new [Nile monitor overlords](http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/wildlife/article1011745.ece). *Image: [Chris Eason](http://www.flickr.com/photos/mister-e/393163544/), Flickr.*
08barredtigersalamander
Barred Tiger Salamander ----------------------- Invasive amphibian species are, as a rule, an extra-big bummer: Released African clawed frogs appear to have been the original host of the chytrid fungus, which now [threatens to eradicate amphibians](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/10/amphibian-disease/) from large swaths of the globe. But there's one happy amphibian story, kind of: The barred tiger salamander, imported from Texas to California 60 years ago, has mixed with native, endangered California tiger salamanders. The resulting hybrid is a "superpredator," which could be bad news for California's original tiger salamanders, not to mention other, tasty amphibians. But at least the hybrid is part-endangered, too. *Image: [Christopher, Tania and Isabelle Luna](http://www.flickr.com/photos/the_luna/3167655078/)./Flickr.*
09starlings-e1276713669193
European Starling ----------------- In the 134 years since their release by an [eccentric New York group](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/American_Acclimatization_Society) (led by a pharmacist bent, according to legend, on introducing to America each bird mentioned in Shakespeare), European starlings have thrived. They've also crowded out native bird species across the continent, and regularly cause problems for commercial airplanes. But there are few sights as magical as a vast starling flock in perfectly synchronized flight, literally obeying laws that [transcend the rules of everyday physics](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/06/starling-physics/). *Image: Flickr/[Eduardo](http://is.gd/gDTaW).*
10dandelion
Dandelions ---------- Exhibit A in the case against people who can't appreciate what's right in front of them: the much-maligned dandelion. Each bloom a small sunburst, its breeze-catching seeds a source of childhood delight, it's also the prime villain of a lawn-care industry dedicated to its eradication. Thankfully, the same quality that's made dandelions the mortal enemy of homogeneous lawn lovers is also its salvation. Like most invasive species, it thrives in disturbed areas, and there's nothing more disturbed than a lawn, where dandelions don't reduce biodiversity, but [improve it](http://www.bangordailynews.com/story/bdn/Dandelions-important-for-the-garden-ecosystem,142975). *Image: [Ernst Vikne](http://www.flickr.com/photos/iboy/4630467404/), Flickr.*
