I’ve always wondering about which came first; the chicken or the egg. Then I wonder about Guam and what Guam was like when there were birds and other creatures before the brown tree snake came along. While growing up on Guam, I don’t really remember birds. I remember snakes.
The brown tree snakes have completely taken over on Guam. Believed to have arrived from the Admiralty Islands, New Guinea, or Australia in the holds of post-World War II cargo ships, the snakes conquered an ecosystem where there were no natural enemies. They ate every bird egg available; now Guam is a tropical paradise with almost no tropical birds. The snakes have also devoured native geckos, lizards, and other reptiles. There are an estimated two million brown tree snakes living on Guam’s 136,000 acres. They outnumber people by about twelve to one. About twenty years ago, they started causing regular power outages by shorting themselves out on the island’s antiquated electrical grid. –Peter Dykstra
I really liked how Hawaii introduced the mongoose to the island to take care of the snakes. They are cute fuzzy creatures. What would happen if we introduced mongooses to the island. (I know, bad idea).
References: http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/stories/green-states-snakes-on-a-boat
