11-03-2016, 02:17 PM
(11-03-2016, 02:10 PM)4Kingdoms Wrote: Again, nothing to do with science manipulating nature.
http://scienceline.ucsb.edu/getkey.php?key=141
Why are there no snakes in Hawaii?
As you know the Hawaiian Islands are volcanic in origin. They were completely built up from the ocean floor by erupting volcanoes over the past 44 million years and even today Hawaii, the youngest island, is still "under construction". Each island is made up of at least one primary volcano, although many islands are composites of more than one.
Hawaii is the most isolated island group in the world. The nearest continent, North America, is over 2500 miles (4000 km) away. All of Hawaii's many plants and animals are evolved from colonizers (seeds, plants, animals etc) that made it here either by air or by sea. But the extreme isolation made it difficult for plants and animals to colonize the islands. The odds of surviving the journey by air or sea is small; making it here and establishing a reproducing population is miraculous. On average, an invertebrate successfully colonized Hawaii once in every 70,000 years, a plant once in every 100,000 years, and a bird once in every million years. This is why a very distinct flora and fauna evolved in Hawaii over millions of years.
Many of the native plants and animals evolved with few diseases and no natural predators and therefore needed few natural defenses. Before humans arrived in Hawaii there were no large animals to eat plants. Mother Nature is very efficient. Defenses weren't needed and over time were lost. This paradise was harmed when Polynesian settlers found their way to the islands (about 1500 years ago) and brought with them other mammals like pigs, dogs and goats and other plants which literally took over and devastated many native ecosystems. Ever since then, people brought new species to Hawaii and every single one had an impact on the native plants and animals.
Until recently snakes had not found their way to the islands (it is illegal to bring them) but some reports indicate that some snakes have been seen, among them the brown tree snake.This is especially bad because snakes have no effective predators living on Hawaii and would quickly kill all the native birds and animals. A good example where this happened is the island Guam where snakes have virtually wiped out the native forest birds.
If you ever travel to Guam, LISTEN... you won't hear any bird sounds.
I imagine it will be quite a while before I can afford to go to Guam lol, but very interesting indeed. I imagine that would be freaky too, to not hear any bird sounds.
