Sea otters are removing invasive and destructive crab species from ecosystems
Anonymous 01/05/25(Sun)20:56:02 | 22 comments | 7 images
Crabbros?? What's our response to this?
>European green crabs are small, measuring just four inches across. But since they were first introduced in the 1980s, these spiny crustaceans have become a massive problem, wreaking havoc on coastal ecosystems along the western coast of North America. They destroy eelgrass habitats, feast on juvenile salmon and king crab, and outcompete native crabs. In doing so, these invasive critters also pose a threat to the crabbing and fishing industries, which many coastal communities rely on for income.
>European green crabs are not only detrimental to coastal ecosystems, but they’re also extremely difficult to eradicate. States have spent millions of dollars trying to combat the invaders, without much success.
>Now, biologists have identified a new, furry ally in the fight against European green crabs: sea otters. At the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve in California, hungry southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis) are gobbling up the invasive crabs and keeping their numbers in check, researchers report this month in the journal Biological Invasions.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/hungry-sea-otters-are-taking-a-bite-out-of-californias-invasive-crab-problem-new-study-finds-180985749/
>European green crabs are small, measuring just four inches across. But since they were first introduced in the 1980s, these spiny crustaceans have become a massive problem, wreaking havoc on coastal ecosystems along the western coast of North America. They destroy eelgrass habitats, feast on juvenile salmon and king crab, and outcompete native crabs. In doing so, these invasive critters also pose a threat to the crabbing and fishing industries, which many coastal communities rely on for income.
>European green crabs are not only detrimental to coastal ecosystems, but they’re also extremely difficult to eradicate. States have spent millions of dollars trying to combat the invaders, without much success.
>Now, biologists have identified a new, furry ally in the fight against European green crabs: sea otters. At the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve in California, hungry southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis) are gobbling up the invasive crabs and keeping their numbers in check, researchers report this month in the journal Biological Invasions.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smar
Anonymous 01/05/25(Sun)21:21:31 No.4929558
sorry I can't make this about my schizophrenic hatred of pets so I don't care, who am I supposed to epic pwn with dead animals like this?
Anonymous 01/05/25(Sun)23:04:26 No.4929595
>>4929554
There's a project to restore sea otters to their historical habitat along the Oregon coasts (they're currently absent there aside from the occasional straggler from Washington), which would help connect the northern and southern sea otter populations.
There's a project to restore sea otters to their historical habitat along the Oregon coasts (they're currently absent there aside from the occasional straggler from Washington), which would help connect the northern and southern sea otter populations.
Anonymous 01/06/25(Mon)00:53:23 No.4929630
>>4929554
Finally a species that's cute, highly beneficial for ecosystems, and has never been recorded killing a human.*
*Please don't mention river otter attacks (which happen but still aren't fatal) because river otters and sea otters are highly distinct and differentiated species in appearance, genetics, and behavior.
Finally a species that's cute, highly beneficial for ecosystems, and has never been recorded killing a human.*
*Please don't mention river otter attacks (which happen but still aren't fatal) because river otters and sea otters are highly distinct and differentiated species in appearance, genetics, and behavior.
Anonymous 01/06/25(Mon)01:07:02 No.4929634
>>4929630
if an otter kills you you deserved it simple as
if an otter kills you you deserved it simple as
Anonymous 01/06/25(Mon)10:11:18 No.4929787
>>4929554
I love their widdle paws
I love their widdle paws
Anonymous 01/06/25(Mon)13:55:35 No.4929851
>>4929595
I support Lebensraum for sea otters. They need to be restored to their historical coastal range.
I support Lebensraum for sea otters. They need to be restored to their historical coastal range.
Anonymous 01/07/25(Tue)21:39:51 No.4930586
>>4929787
For me it's their nose and how their fur turns grey or blonde as they age
For me it's their nose and how their fur turns grey or blonde as they age
Anonymous 01/11/25(Sat)13:28:19 No.4932165
>>4929554
FLOOFY
FLOOFY
Crabanon 01/15/25(Wed)12:05:10 No.4934297
>>4929554
I may be the crabanon but i absolutely support the rehabilitation of otters and the reintroduction to their habitats, and ita even better when they can help out in a biological invasion as presented
Overall 10/10 would otter again
I may be the crabanon but i absolutely support the rehabilitation of otters and the reintroduction to their habitats, and ita even better when they can help out in a biological invasion as presented
Overall 10/10 would otter again
Anonymous 01/18/25(Sat)20:45:03 No.4936014
>>4934297
nyom nyom nyom
nyom nyom nyom
Anonymous 01/19/25(Sun)08:40:46 No.4936213
>>4929630
They horribly rape other animals
They horribly rape other animals
Anonymous 01/19/25(Sun)10:28:49 No.4936233
>>4936213
pobody's nerfect
pobody's nerfect
Anonymous 01/21/25(Tue)22:18:47 No.4937535
>>4936213
This really is such a fucking Reddit-tier low IQ talking point.
1) The study that always gets cited only reported that behavior among 3 individual otters out of a population of 3000 who dabbed on seals. It's not something that all or most of them regularly do.
2) It was suspected that the three males in question were deprived of mates and turned to juvenile seals (not newborn baby seals, but juvenile seals which are closer in size to otters). This kind of desperate and aberrant behavior is actually quite common among animals deprived of mates. Even domestic dogs that become stray and have to fend for themselves have been reported to turn to rape in the wild. Cat species like lions also rape to display dominance.
3) Many different species of seals themselves have been reported to rape each other (rape is more common among seals than among otters) and completely unrelated species like penguins, and penguins are likewise known to rape each other. Bottlenose dolphins are notorious for indulging in rape, necrophilia, and infanticide. Same goes for sea lions. Even "wholesome" species like manatees, humpback whales, and pilot whales have been documented engaging in necrophilia.
3) Want to know a species for which rape is actually common rather than aberrant? ORANGUTANS, one of our closest relatives. And of course rape and infanticide has been reported among chimpanzees, gorillas, and other primates. Head on over to the pongo thread and tell them that orangutans have even been known to rape human women who go to study them.
4) Even elephants have been reported to engage in necrophilia and rape rhinos or kill their own offspring in a fit of rage. Not to mention all kinds of unsavory facts that could be listed among "cute" animals like cats, koalas, quokkas, rabbits, pandas, prairie dogs, meerkats, and so on. There's absolutely reason to single out otters except if you're a Reddit faggot who gets all your animal knowledge from memes.
This really is such a fucking Reddit-tier low IQ talking point.
1) The study that always gets cited only reported that behavior among 3 individual otters out of a population of 3000 who dabbed on seals. It's not something that all or most of them regularly do.
2) It was suspected that the three males in question were deprived of mates and turned to juvenile seals (not newborn baby seals, but juvenile seals which are closer in size to otters). This kind of desperate and aberrant behavior is actually quite common among animals deprived of mates. Even domestic dogs that become stray and have to fend for themselves have been reported to turn to rape in the wild. Cat species like lions also rape to display dominance.
3) Many different species of seals themselves have been reported to rape each other (rape is more common among seals than among otters) and completely unrelated species like penguins, and penguins are likewise known to rape each other. Bottlenose dolphins are notorious for indulging in rape, necrophilia, and infanticide. Same goes for sea lions. Even "wholesome" species like manatees, humpback whales, and pilot whales have been documented engaging in necrophilia.
3) Want to know a species for which rape is actually common rather than aberrant? ORANGUTANS, one of our closest relatives. And of course rape and infanticide has been reported among chimpanzees, gorillas, and other primates. Head on over to the pongo thread and tell them that orangutans have even been known to rape human women who go to study them.
4) Even elephants have been reported to engage in necrophilia and rape rhinos or kill their own offspring in a fit of rage. Not to mention all kinds of unsavory facts that could be listed among "cute" animals like cats, koalas, quokkas, rabbits, pandas, prairie dogs, meerkats, and so on. There's absolutely reason to single out otters except if you're a Reddit faggot who gets all your animal knowledge from memes.
Anonymous 01/22/25(Wed)08:08:15 No.4937820
>>4929554
Their fur looks so pretty when it turns white as they get older
Their fur looks so pretty when it turns white as they get older
Anonymous 01/22/25(Wed)08:10:02 No.4937821
>>4937535
Whiskers [a sea otter], would whistle from the water in the mornings so that the dogs [named Nipper, Killer, and Tuk] would run to the shoreline and bark at him. One day the dogs were down by the rocks barking and Whiskers pushed a log towards them, daring them to jump onto it and come even closer. Pat [Kidder, the dogs' owner] recalls thinking: "'Don't go out on there or he'll have you and you'll wind up dead.' Whiskers was a smart animal." None of the dogs fell for it. Not then, at least. [A couple of days later,] the Kidders heard more commotion and cast their eyes toward a ramp on a wharf. Tuk was floating in the water — drowned.
Whiskers was there, too, copulating with the carcass while parading past the other two wildly barking dogs. "He'd go back and forth, holding Tuk's head up out of the water," Pat relates. "He was humping it. It was so bizarre. We had never anticipated anything like that."
Whiskers [a sea otter], would whistle from the water in the mornings so that the dogs [named Nipper, Killer, and Tuk] would run to the shoreline and bark at him. One day the dogs were down by the rocks barking and Whiskers pushed a log towards them, daring them to jump onto it and come even closer. Pat [Kidder, the dogs' owner] recalls thinking: "'Don't go out on there or he'll have you and you'll wind up dead.' Whiskers was a smart animal." None of the dogs fell for it. Not then, at least. [A couple of days later,] the Kidders heard more commotion and cast their eyes toward a ramp on a wharf. Tuk was floating in the water — drowned.
Whiskers was there, too, copulating with the carcass while parading past the other two wildly barking dogs. "He'd go back and forth, holding Tuk's head up out of the water," Pat relates. "He was humping it. It was so bizarre. We had never anticipated anything like that."
Anonymous 01/22/25(Wed)08:22:19 No.4937826
>>4937821
>Whiskers was a smart animal
This really just proves that sea otters are highly intelligent, which even the dead dog's owner admits.
Chimpanzees:
>Chimpanzees clearly revel in hunting and killing other primates, from monkeys to chimpanzees and even humans (mostly infants). Bonobos too kill various other species for meat, and there are even a few observations of their stealing infant monkeys away from their distraught mothers and then carrying them around, apparently to play with, until they died.
Dolphins:
>The YouTube video of a dolphin masturbating with a decapitated fish is disturbing, shocking and will put you right off your dinner.
>Several marine mammal species have been
observed engaging in necrocoitus, including the Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris), the southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis), the Pacific pilot whale (Globicephala scammonii), and the common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)
>Whiskers was a smart animal
This really just proves that sea otters are highly intelligent, which even the dead dog's owner admits.
Chimpanzees:
>Chimpanzees clearly revel in hunting and killing other primates, from monkeys to chimpanzees and even humans (mostly infants). Bonobos too kill various other species for meat, and there are even a few observations of their stealing infant monkeys away from their distraught mothers and then carrying them around, apparently to play with, until they died.
Dolphins:
>The YouTube video of a dolphin masturbating with a decapitated fish is disturbing, shocking and will put you right off your dinner.
>Several marine mammal species have been
observed engaging in necrocoitus, including the Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris), the southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis), the Pacific pilot whale (Globicephala scammonii), and the common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)
Anonymous 01/22/25(Wed)08:32:04 No.4937831
>>4937821
>But as early as 1974, researchers in Gombe National Park in Tanzania had been startled to observe chimpanzee males organizing gangs of a half-dozen or so members and launching lethal raids into the territory of neighboring chimps. These were clearly not food-gathering expeditions. The chimps did not stop to eat, and they did not make any of their normal calls and shouts. Instead, they crept silently into the territory of a neighboring group and hid until they saw a lone chimp. Screaming with excitement, they would ambush the victim, hold him immobile and beat him to death, sometimes twisting the victim's leg until the muscles ripped, or tearing off flaps of skin while he was still alive. In one well-documented case in Tanzania, a group of male chimpanzees used such ambushes to eliminate a whole band of neighbors.
>Further research found that such violence was not limited to chimpanzees. Male gorillas, for example, were observed ripping infants out of their mothers' arms and smashing them to the ground in often-successful attempts to entice the mothers to mate with them.
By the way, stray dogs also turn to rape when they can't find a mate:
>Different aspects of sexual behaviour were studied in the stray dog population of Burdwan Town, India. The bitches differed in their degree of attractiveness to males. There was a positive correlation between the number of males attempting to mate a given bitch and the duration of their association. Most of the bitches showed selective receptivity, readily admitting some males and rejecting others. A significant negative correlation existed between the number of males associated with one bitch and successful mating. The occurrence of rape in these dogs is described.
>But as early as 1974, researchers in Gombe National Park in Tanzania had been startled to observe chimpanzee males organizing gangs of a half-dozen or so members and launching lethal raids into the territory of neighboring chimps. These were clearly not food-gathering expeditions. The chimps did not stop to eat, and they did not make any of their normal calls and shouts. Instead, they crept silently into the territory of a neighboring group and hid until they saw a lone chimp. Screaming with excitement, they would ambush the victim, hold him immobile and beat him to death, sometimes twisting the victim's leg until the muscles ripped, or tearing off flaps of skin while he was still alive. In one well-documented case in Tanzania, a group of male chimpanzees used such ambushes to eliminate a whole band of neighbors.
>Further research found that such violence was not limited to chimpanzees. Male gorillas, for example, were observed ripping infants out of their mothers' arms and smashing them to the ground in often-successful attempts to entice the mothers to mate with them.
By the way, stray dogs also turn to rape when they can't find a mate:
>Different aspects of sexual behaviour were studied in the stray dog population of Burdwan Town, India. The bitches differed in their degree of attractiveness to males. There was a positive correlation between the number of males attempting to mate a given bitch and the duration of their association. Most of the bitches showed selective receptivity, readily admitting some males and rejecting others. A significant negative correlation existed between the number of males associated with one bitch and successful mating. The occurrence of rape in these dogs is described.
Anonymous 01/23/25(Thu)04:05:38 No.4938275
Anonymous 01/23/25(Thu)04:31:43 No.4938278
>>4938275
Why? Blame the anon who tried to demonize a species based a handful of incidents.
Why? Blame the anon who tried to demonize a species based a handful of incidents.
Anonymous 01/23/25(Thu)04:38:16 No.4938280
>>4938278
That would be me in reaction to
>Finally a species that's cute, highly beneficial for ecosystems, and has never been recorded killing a human.*
It's not isolated cases they even mate in such a brutal way that the female is left mutilated or dead often. As bad as mallard ducks or worse.
That would be me in reaction to
>Finally a species that's cute, highly beneficial for ecosystems, and has never been recorded killing a human.*
It's not isolated cases they even mate in such a brutal way that the female is left mutilated or dead often. As bad as mallard ducks or worse.
Anonymous 01/23/25(Thu)04:42:34 No.4938281
>>4938280
>a species that's cute, highly beneficial for ecosystems, and has never been recorded killing a human.
This is a true statement. Cuteness is subjective, but they are beneficial to ecosystems and have never killed a human.
>>4938280
>even mate in such a brutal way that the female is left mutilated or dead often
Females rarely die from mating, otherwise the species would've gone extinct long ago as the females have the rear the offspring.
And again many species have mating rituals that humans would consider rough or brutal. For example, cats:
>Feline intercourse is often very painful for the female. The penises of nearly all species of male cats are barbed
https://www.bioexpedition.com/feline-reproduction/
>a species that's cute, highly beneficial for ecosystems, and has never been recorded killing a human.
This is a true statement. Cuteness is subjective, but they are beneficial to ecosystems and have never killed a human.
>>4938280
>even mate in such a brutal way that the female is left mutilated or dead often
Females rarely die from mating, otherwise the species would've gone extinct long ago as the females have the rear the offspring.
And again many species have mating rituals that humans would consider rough or brutal. For example, cats:
>Feline intercourse is often very painful for the female. The penises of nearly all species of male cats are barbed
https://www.bioexpedition.com/felin
Anonymous 01/23/25(Thu)04:49:02 No.4938282
>>4938280
And again among aquatic mammals: male hippos also forcefully hold the female's head underwater during sex. Manatees have such high sex drives that males will sometimes penetrate the female to death, and at times will continue having sex with her corpse.
And again, dolphins:
>Dolphin sex can be violent and coercive. Gangs of two or three male bottlenose dolphins isolate a single female from the pod and forcibly mate with her, sometimes for weeks at a time. To keep her in line, they make aggressive noises, threatening movements, and even smack her around with their tails. And if she tries to swim away, they chase her down. Horny dolphins have also been known to target human swimmers -Demi Moore is rumored to have had a close encounter of the finny kind.
And the rough mating rituals of various primates such orangutans and chimps was already mentioned:
>sexual coercion is much more common in some primate species than in others. Orangutans and chimpanzees are the only nonhuman primates whose males in the wild force females to copulate, while males of several other species, such as vervet monkeys and bonobos (pygmy chimpanzees), rarely if ever try to coerce females sexually. Between the two extremes lie many species, like hamadryas baboons, in which males do not force copulation but nonetheless use threats and intimidation to get sex.
And again among aquatic mammals: male hippos also forcefully hold the female's head underwater during sex. Manatees have such high sex drives that males will sometimes penetrate the female to death, and at times will continue having sex with her corpse.
And again, dolphins:
>Dolphin sex can be violent and coercive. Gangs of two or three male bottlenose dolphins isolate a single female from the pod and forcibly mate with her, sometimes for weeks at a time. To keep her in line, they make aggressive noises, threatening movements, and even smack her around with their tails. And if she tries to swim away, they chase her down. Horny dolphins have also been known to target human swimmers -Demi Moore is rumored to have had a close encounter of the finny kind.
And the rough mating rituals of various primates such orangutans and chimps was already mentioned:
>sexual coercion is much more common in some primate species than in others. Orangutans and chimpanzees are the only nonhuman primates whose males in the wild force females to copulate, while males of several other species, such as vervet monkeys and bonobos (pygmy chimpanzees), rarely if ever try to coerce females sexually. Between the two extremes lie many species, like hamadryas baboons, in which males do not force copulation but nonetheless use threats and intimidation to get sex.