echidna

Was watching a local program on the introduction of cats to Australia only a century or 2 ago. There was some speculation as to why feral cats had quite different appearances, colourings and builds in various parts of Australia, forests vs arid vs alpine conditions.

It was hypothesised that cats of southern Australia were of European origin while in the north they were more likely Indonesian. But after DNA testing, all were found to be British, imported as pets and as a deliberately (and poorly conceived) introduced mouse-control species. A surprising result of common ancestry given their apparent diversity.

Regardless, to the uninformed, Australia would seem to be an even better laboratory than the Galapagos to study short-term evolution, with rabbits, cats, dogs, foxes and so forth, all appearing to have taken only 2 centuries or less to adapt locally to a wide variety environmental conditions throughout the continent.

Any truth ?

Camaban

Lots.

Other such things are that desert cats can now operate on a low enough water supply that the moisture in the blood of those they kill gives them all their needs, so they're not confined to water holes or anything like that.

as just one example.

theyeti

Yes, but the mice were introduced as a marsupial-control species. Worked like a charm. Now we need to import some large dogs to take care of the cats, and then some Asian restaurants to take care of the dogs.

Seriously, the plight of native species in Australia is pretty good evidence of evolution all by itself, as shown through biogeography.

theyeti

GeoTheo

I don't have much to contribute here other than I think feral animals are really cool. I guess it reminds me of Jack London's "Call of the wild".
I have always been fascinated by feral animals that adapt back to life in the wild like wild pigs and so forth. I know they can be very destructive though, especially in fragile island ecosystems.

Neruda

ouch...

I've heard there are restaraunts in asia where they only serve endangered species, so maybe they could take care of some of the rarer indigenous species in Australia as well.

Late_Cretaceous

"Regardless, to the uninformed, Australia would seem to be an even better laboratory than the Galapagos to study short-term evolution, with rabbits, cats, dogs, foxes and so forth, all appearing to have taken only 2 centuries or less to adapt locally to a wide variety environmental conditions throughout the continent"

An interesting experiment would be to release a 100 pregnant armadillos into the Outback and monitor their spread, environmental impact and evolutionary changes over a period of a few decades. Unfortunatley, no Australian university has taken me up on my offer.

Coragyps

Their only natural enemy seems to be the pickup truck - they'd have the whole damn place dug up in two years!

lpetrich

And after what happened with rabbits, would one be allowed to release those armadillos?

Late_Cretaceous

Ipetrich, that is true. However, it was not done under controlled conditions. Besides, armadillos would have a much more visible impact - imagine the whole nulabor rototilled.

RufusAtticus

I think we should release 16 humans in the Australian Outback and see the ecological impact that happens when they stop being polite and start being real.