'Human Footprint' explains 'How 13 Rabbits Destroyed a Continent'

I'm still not fully adjusted to the new semester's work schedule, so instead of covering casting categories at the Emmy Awards, I'm sharing an evergreen educational video in the vein of PBS Terra examines 'Invasion of the Toxic Toads: Nature's Most Successful Failure', an excerpt of Human Footprint on PBS Terra explaining How 13 Rabbits Destroyed a Continent.

You might think rabbits are cute and harmless… After all, they’re the beloved protagonists of some of our most cherished children’s stories! But when 13 of them were released in Australia in 1859, they triggered one of the most destructive biological invasions in history. Within just 50 years, rabbits had overrun two-thirds of the continent, stripping ecosystems bare and threatening native species.

In this episode of Human Footprint, Shane Campbell-Staton meets historian Martha Sear to uncover the astonishing story of Australia’s rabbit invasion and the ecological nightmare it created. From the first release of the deadly Myxoma virus in the 1950s to more recent outbreaks, Shane explores how researchers used biological weapons against the rabbit plague… and why the struggle continues today, more than 160 years after rabbits arrived in Australia. Wildlife manager Ian Lenon and CSIRO scientist Tanja Strive help Shane understand how today’s experts are tracking rabbits and developing new biocontrol tools, and what the future might hold for Australia’s ecosystems.

This is the first story of biological control I remember reading and it's probably one I read about the same time as the first story of invasive species I can remember, the introduction and spread of European Starlings, which I covered in 'The Shakespeare Enthusiast Who Introduced An Invasive Species,' a story I tell my students. Like that story and the discovery of insulin, I learned new things from this video, like myxomatosis being caused by a virus in the smallpox family and being spread by mosquitoes. The video also reinforced something I knew, which is that a pathogen can be too virulent for optimal spread. The hosts can die before they transmit the pathogens to the next host. That's a flaw in a lot of plague-caused apocalypses in fiction, although the readers and viewers generally don't mind; they're in it for the horror, not the science. Just the same, it's a good day when I learn something new. Also, I've already told my students this story and the cane toad tale, so this counts towards blogging as professional development.

That's a wrap for today's post. Now stay tuned for my planned Emmy entry tomorrow.