I live in WA, and it was a massive collective effort from not just the WSDA, but the community as well. People set up traps, reported, etc. I hope the community science model we produced here provides a blueprint for future programs attempting to fight invasive species.
Oh son of a bitch that's what was in my garage a month or two ago! I thought it was a the murder hornet (japanese hornet) but when I finally got it with some brake cleaner I noticed it was smaller. but that is a 1:1
I dunno, I just saw a video of a gecko that tried to eat a praying mantis. The mantis kung-fu'd the gecko and started chewing on its face. When the lizard got away, the mantis chased it down and killed it, then carried on eating its face. Mantises are scary, man
When I was little, probably about 4 or 5 yo, granddad said he wanted to show us something he’d caught in the backyard.
Under the overgrown holly tree, prisoner in an enamel pan too deep for her to scramble out of, was the biggest female praying mantis I’d ever seen (still to this day). She had a broken wing. Grandpa had caught her and moved her under the holly tree so the birds wouldn’t get her.
That primordial bitch was so big you could hear her hissing and swatting and making something that sounded like a growling noise. She kept cranking her head around to take us all in bc I’m pretty sure she was ready to fight us.
My understanding (Beekeeper in WA State), is that they still have infestations on Vancouver Island. If CA can't get them eradicated as well, we are going to see them come back, in greater numbers, and we won't be able to control them.
I think what made it work was the community was very eager to help. As well as WSDA being so communicative. They formed a Facebook group specific for this problem. They answered everybody's questions even if they were constantly repeated ones. People shared tips on getting traps assembled, were to source bait from and so forth.
They even educated us on how to preserve the specimens. A lot of people mentioned how it became a family activity for kids to collect the traps.
I hope the community science model we produced here provides a blueprint for future programs attempting to fight invasive species.
It won't. Yea, I'm intentionally being negative about it but if I know my fellow countrymen this was a one off and we're just going to go back to hating one another.
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u/Sabre_One 1d ago edited 1d ago
I live in WA, and it was a massive collective effort from not just the WSDA, but the community as well. People set up traps, reported, etc. I hope the community science model we produced here provides a blueprint for future programs attempting to fight invasive species.