Every Halloween, we invite monsters into our homes.
asserted
we → invite → homes
I find it harder to be frightened by them these days.
asserted
it → find → them
I spend too much of my working life contemplating creatures whose real-life talents would be rejected by a horror screenwriter as excessive.
asserted
talents → spend → screenwriter
An enormous “murder” hornet whose sting has been compared with having a hot nail driven into your flesh.
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nail → compare → flesh
An alga called “rock snot” that can smother riverbeds in great mats of slime.
asserted
that → call → slime
Or how about a beetle the size of a sesame seed that carries a fungus capable of killing magnificent old trees.
asserted
that → carry → trees
Having spent decades working on invasive species and extinction, I am frequently asked which potential invaders worry me most.
asserted
invaders → spend → me
Thousands of species native to somewhere else could cause serious harm if they arrived here, and global trade and travel provide ever more opportunities for them to hitch a ride.
uncertain
them → cause → ride
This freshwater alga can grow into thick mats carpeting riverbeds.
asserted
alga → grow → riverbeds
It invaded New Zealand in 2004 and has since spread through waterways there, transported between rivers on wet fishing and recreational equipment.
asserted
It → invade → fishing
Australia has so far kept it out, and we sure hope it stays that way.
asserted
it → keep → it
In the horror movie of invasive species, prevention is the rather uncelebrated hero – succeeding precisely when there is no dramatic ending.
asserted
prevention → succeed → species
No minister holds a press conference beneath a banner reading: “Terrible thing continues not to be present.”
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thing → hold → banner
A most frightening monster, although almost invisible, it was first detected in Perth in 2021 and has the potential to devastate our country if it’s able to hitchhike further.
asserted
it → detect → country
Its victims have included magnificent old trees shading Perth’s parks and public spaces.
asserted
victims → include → parks
Trying to contain it has required trees to be felled and destroyed.
asserted
Trying → try → trees
It’s been estimated it could wipe out 47 per cent of Sydney’s tree canopy if it were to reach the east coast.
uncertain
it → estimate → coast
Further north, another potential invader is practically knocking.
asserted
invader → knock → ?
The climbing perch is a fish that can survive out of water for hours and wriggle across land between water bodies.
asserted
that → climb → bodies
It also has sharp spines that can lodge in the throats of animals attempting to eat it.
asserted
that → have → it
After invading Papua New Guinea, it recently reached islands in the Torres Strait.
asserted
it → invade → Strait
And then there are the animals we have deliberately brought into the country.
asserted
we → be → country
Ferrets remain popular pets in parts of Australia despite the severe threat they could pose if they established in the wild.
uncertain
they → remain → wild
We have an unfortunate tendency to treat the walls of a cage as though they constitute a biosecurity system.
asserted
they → have → system
But animals do escape, or worse, people release unwanted pets.
asserted
people → escape → pets
Every invasive population starts somewhere.
asserted
population → start → ?
And remarkably, we are contemplating adding another formidable predator to the mix.
asserted
we → contemplate → mix
The Australian government is considering allowing Bengal cats – a cross between domestic cats and Asian leopard cats – to be imported as pets.
asserted
cats → consider → pets
Nature does not deal in villains.
asserted
Nature → deal → villains
The horror comes from humans moving species somewhere they do not belong – and then failing to act while we still have the chance.
asserted
we → come → chance
Australia has been taught this lesson repeatedly.
asserted
Australia → teach → lesson
Rabbits multiplied into hundreds of millions.
asserted
Rabbits → multiply → millions
Foxes and cats helped erase native mammals from huge parts of the continent.
asserted
Foxes → help → continent
Invasive grasses have transformed landscapes and fire.
asserted
grasses → transform → landscapes
Cane toads poisoned native predators as they spread across northern Australia.
asserted
they → poison → Australia
Today, fire ants provide perhaps our starkest warning of what happens when an invader gets a foothold.
asserted
invader → provide → foothold
Before an invasive species establishes, keeping it out can seem expensive.
asserted
keeping → establish → it
Afterwards, almost any amount we might have spent preventing its arrival looks cheap.
uncertain
we → spend → arrival
And because prevention leaves behind no ruins, carcasses or dramatic footage, its victories are easily forgotten.
asserted
victories → leave → ruins
Australia is an island continent with wildlife found nowhere else on Earth.
asserted
Australia → find → Earth
…and 8 more, not listed.
The Aporia
