evolution impacts - not just one invasive species, but TWO...

[acroyear]

Grey squirrel virus wiping out reds - Yahoo! News:

Britain's native red squirrels, already in headlong retreat, are being wiped out not just by competition for resources with non-indigenous gray squirrels but from a virus the grays carry, research showed on Monday.

The squirrel poxvirus is harmless to the grays but kills reds within two weeks of contact, said the researchers...

"Given that the gray squirrel is an introduced species, and therefore the disease has occurred as a consequence of human action, the onus is very much on us to look for practical solutions to control the disease and protect red squirrels from (it)," said Tony Sainsbury, lecturer in wild animal health at the Zoological Society of London.

Comments

Oh dear.

[fiona64.livejournal.com]

I think that the UK's red squirrels are the cutest things *ever* (yes, I know they're pesty rodents ...). This is just depressing.