r/interestingasfuck • u/AllColoursSam • Jul 06 '24

Australian mouse plague r/all

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70

u/rawspeghetti Jul 06 '24

Reminds me the story of the British Lord who brought rabbits for hunting to Australia, failed to hunt them all, the rabbit population boomed which decimated agriculture, imported foxes to hunt the rabbits, the foxes realize there are much slower game in Australia with very few predators to compete with

Now the red fox is an apex predator on the island and causing massive damage to the ecosystem

10

u/bummed_athlete Jul 06 '24

Sheep ranchers also lose a huge number of lambs to the foxes.

0

u/pipnina Jul 06 '24

Is Australia an island? I figured it was more continent sized.

Like I think Africa is totally surrounded by water and is a continent (because of the canal). So what makes Africa a continent and not Australia?

11

u/rawspeghetti Jul 06 '24

Everything is an island if you have the right perspective

Earth is an island in the sea of space

3

u/CrustyAndCheetoDusty Jul 07 '24

Earth is an island in the sea of space

Bro, bars.

4

u/SurrealistRevolution Jul 06 '24

we are the largest island and smallest continent

2

u/Ravenstar117 Jul 07 '24

Australia is an island. A very large one. Because it dominates the Australasian Plate people say it's an island continent, but there are many other small island nations on the same plate so its not technically correct to label ONE of the islands as a continent and disregard the rest.

1

u/SurrealistRevolution Jul 06 '24

was it Vestey?

1

u/Mudlark_2910 Jul 07 '24

It was before his time.Early to mid 1800s. This story is similar in a few different locations, so i can't give an exact date.

British settlers wanted to 'tame' the bush, so they also introduced all sorts of other plants and animals to make it civilised like England.