PBS Terra examines 'Invasion of the Toxic Toads: Nature's Most Successful Failure'

I acknowledged an omission to correct in the penultimate paragraph of 'I Visited a Mosquito Factory' from 'Human Footprint' on PBS for World Mosquito Day.

I've never mentioned cane toads on this blog before, but they're one of the organisms my students use for their answers to a question on the final exam for my organismal biology class. Since I just graded those exams yesterday, cane toads are fresh on my mind. That's a story my students tell me.

I then watched Danny Anduza on Twitch react to part of a PBS Terra video about cane toads, Invasion of the Toxic Toads: Nature's Most Successful Failure, so I decided to embed it here. Watch.

They prefer suburban living, they’ll eat anything in sight (including each other), and…they’re taking over the world?

This Earth Month, say hello to the Cane Toad: the epitome of failing upward. Wishfully introduced as a solution to a problem, cane toads have become the problem themselves. They’ve established themselves as an extremely successful invasive species… by doing nothing? Join the Fascinating Fails team as we look into how Cane Toads keep taking over ecosystems and what an ‘invasive species’ means in the era of climate change. Plus, find out ways YOU can help fight the climate crisis—it’s as simple as taking a picture!

Florida, the new home of Burmese Pythons, Lionfish, and Giant African Snails, now has Cane Toads, too. I wish I could say I'm surprised. I also wish I could be more surprised that they are spreading north through the Sunshine State because of climate change, but I've known that Burmese Pythons could spread that far north (they already have) and have been projected to be able to inhabit areas as far north as southern Maryland, so I'm not.

PBS Terra has more in Invasive reptiles & amphibians are taking over...where!?!?

Did you know that Florida is home to 180 species of non-native reptiles and amphibians—and that’s JUST reptiles and amphibians! Luckily, there are a few ways to get things under control. Fascinating Fails host Maren Hunsberger tells us how!

Yikes! Florida has a worse problem with invasive species than I thought and I already knew it was bad!

I conclude with The Frog Tier List - Rapid Fire Edition, where TierZoo ranks frogs and toads.

WHICH FROG RANKS HIGHEST?

Spoiler alert, it's the Cane Toad.

Thanks to my students, Danny A. on Twitch, and PBS Terra for reminding me about Cane Toads. I learned a lot of new things today, which makes today a good day. Now stay tuned for the Sunday entertainment feature. Maybe I'll finally continue my Emmy Awards series!

Dire wolf de-extinction revisited for International Day of Biological Diversity and Throwback Thursday

Happy International Day for Biological Diversity and Throwback Thursday! As I promised, I'm revisiting dire wolf de-extinction. I begin with SciShow asking Did We Just De-Extinct Dire Wolves?!

So you've probably heard by now that a biotech company called Colossal Biosciences has brought dire wolves back form extinction. Or at least.... they SAY they did. We wanted to break down all the science in their claims, and get to the bottom of the dire wolf dilemma before George R. R. Martin adopts all the wolf pups. Here's the truth on de-extinction, de-mystified.

Hosted by: Savannah Geary (they/them)

I'm glad to see Rancho La Brea make an appearance. I spent four years there working on my M.S. thesis in geology, where "I was the first person to identify 33 species from the most famous fossil deposit in North America." I also walked past the wall of dire wolf skulls and a copy of the mural shown in the video on a regular basis. I'm quite familiar with a paleontological perspective on the species. I'm also aware that using a gray wolf as a template has issues; dire wolves are genetically closer to the common ancestor of most jackals than wolves. Finally, Colossal Biosciences' dire wolves don't fit any of the three species concepts for real dire wolves. Darn.

I continue with Be Smart's The Argument for De-Extinction: EXPLAINED.

Dire wolves are back-sort of. Colossal Biosciences seems to have resurrected this extinct predator, but it's not quite as simple as that. Joe talks with their scientists to explore the truth, tech, and ethics of "de-extinction."

The scientists from Colossal Biosciences that Joe Hanson interviewed both gave intelligent, well-reasoned answers that make me think and feel that they know what they are doing and understand its place in preserving biodiversity. I just hope people are listening.

SciShow's video mentioned that Hank Green had made two videos about dire wolf de-extinction. He's since made a third, Everyone Ignored Colossal’s Bigger Wolf News.

What if there is an actual de-extinction hiding just under the surface.

One question that came up in all three videos is "What is a species?" That has to be answered first to say whether Colossal Biosciences actually revived dire wolves and if not, what are they? I didn't expect that debate last month, but here we are. Also, I agree with Hank that the real de-extinction story will be the red wolf.

I leave this topic with TierZoo asking Are Dire Wolves going to become OP again?

Did modders at Colossal Biosciences just break the game?

Patrick Lacey finally wrote a description I can use!

Before I leave, other viewers and I responded to Lacey's "Stark white coat" remark. Here are my comments.

"I spent five minutes scrolling through the comments to see if someone else had noticed this. Congratulations, you did, so we can both say, 'We see what you did there.'"

"Yes, he did, so we can say, 'We see what you did there.' These are Game of Thrones dire wolves and George R.R. Martin is one of the authors on Colossal Biosciences paper."

"Until this development, I had never noticed that Game of Thrones has GMO in the correct order — GaMe Of Thrones!"

Enough silliness in the service of science and entertainment. Stay tuned for Flashback Friday.