Brown Tree Snake
The invasive species I chose to talk about is the Brown Tree Snake. The Brown Tree Snake is native to new Guinea and Australia. However, they have completely taken over the island of Guam. They originally invaded Guam during World War II. The brown tree snake snuck into war equipment, arrived in Guam, and eventually invaded the island. Today, there are around 13,000 brown tree snakes per square mile. Like its name suggests, they are great climbers and spend most of their time in trees. They also possess a very toxic venom. These two traits are what make them excellent invasive species. Because they have no competition with other predators and they themselves are prey to none, this is why the number of snakes keeps growing. Another benefit of the brown tree snake is when they first invaded the island there prey, which are mostly birds, were not used to being hunted by a snake because it had not ever been introduced in their environment. Because of this, the bird had no prior genetic adaptations to help defend themselves from the snakes. Now, the brown tree snakes cause many emergency room visits for humans each year as well as substantial power line damage. 8 out of 11 native bird species in Guam have been eradicated from the island due to the brown tree snake. The conservationists is Guam rely on one of two strategies to try and capture these invaders. The first is live trapping of the snakes in cages. The second is aerial delivery of toxic bait, which is pretty much rat poison. Both methods are not something I would like to engage in myself, but for those brave enough to carry out the duties, these are the best current options due to the habitat.