Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Asian destroyer





Ah - the dreaded Gypsy moth caterpiller. My general understanding is that the US wanted to increase silk production years ago - so from Asia we brought over the Gypsy moth. Well they got out - years passed - and now they are destroying the hard wood forest canopy. They were so thick in the SNP - that it sounded like it was raining. Unfortuantly for us - it was their poop raining down on us! yuck. Look at how thick they are on this tree - basically see this all day. Look at the leaf - they don't eat systemmatically - so they waste a majority of the leaf - the entire ground is littered with this leaf debris. My understanding is that they are even more destructive when they become moth's. Need to spend some portion of my life to the destruction of this creature - unsure if any good comes from them. Getting sunburned as they destroy the canopy. I remember from science class - if you introduce a new species - it either dies off right away - or it takes over - as there are no natural predators in the area. Good job US.

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