This story resonates with me.<p>Here in New Zealand, we have many native species of birds, insects, frogs, lizards and the like that thrived when our islands were cut off from the rest of the planet, but that have become extinct, or are in imminent danger of being so due to introduced predators such as rats, stoats, hedgehogs, ferrets, cats etc. etc.<p>It leads to the bizarre situation that conservation here is largely about killing things.
Did a search to see what happened with the stick bugs and discovered the population is now large enough they're in zoos in San Diego, Toronto, and Bristol:
<a href="http://www.9news.com.au/national/2016/01/13/16/52/revived-aus-stick-insect-takes-on-world" rel="nofollow">http://www.9news.com.au/national/2016/01/13/16/52/revived-au...</a>
Reminds me of a Radiolab episode[1] about a similar effort to bring back a specific species of tortoise in the Galapagos islands. The offending infringing species there where goats. What was really interesting was the method used for the eradication program.[2]<p>[1] <a href="http://www.radiolab.org/story/brink/" rel="nofollow">http://www.radiolab.org/story/brink/</a>
[2] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judas_goat" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judas_goat</a>
The old accepted view was that terrestrial arthropods are limited in size by their system of respiration which amounts to exoskeletal pores (spiracles) and internal airways. So terrestrial bugs can't get much bigger because of the body volume (cubic) versus passive respiratory surface (square). (we've got a forced air/blood circulation system so we can get bigger) Consequently it would be fascinating to learn how close <i>Dryococelus australis</i> is to that theoretical limit, or has it developed some sort of active respiratory system? (in which case, maybe it's time to start engineering insect saddles?)
The story of the Lord Howe Island stick insect is nicely told in this award winning short animation, "Sticky" [1].<p>There is also a book out now on the insects [2].<p>[1] <a href="https://vimeo.com/76647062" rel="nofollow">https://vimeo.com/76647062</a><p>[2] <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/pid/7226.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.publish.csiro.au/pid/7226.htm</a>
Are they ever going to go back to the island and collect more specimens for breeding (and perhaps release some captive-bread individuals to replace them)? Even though that population was probably extremely inbred there's probably still some genetic diversity there that wasn't represented in to two wild specimens they managed to breed.
I'm a southern Louisiana (US "Deep South") native. Here, and in other areas of the south (and elsewhere in the world), we have similarly large "cicadas", which are basically giant crickets. They hatch once every 13 years (shorter than most other cicadas, which hatch every 17 years) [1]. Though the hatches produce huge numbers (sometimes causing areas of road to be literally covered and obscured), and can sometimes be a nuisance because of their sound, they play a very integral role in the ecological cycle and contribute to a very diverse system of plants and animals which many people around here take great pride in. I hope that the residents of Lord Howe Island can learn to live with some new friends.<p>[1] <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicada" rel="nofollow">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicada</a>
I remember this posted from a year ago. I remember reading it and being grossed out that it was a giant bug and not some sort of 6 legged bear. Why that guy would ever touch that thing is beyond me.<p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9179292" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9179292</a>
It's interesting how this story has a true purpose, to convince the residents of Lord Howe to allow the insects to be released on their land by the pressure of the article's readers. Ball's Pyramid itself is perhaps even more fascinating to me. It looks like a good place for a wizard to live...
Once humans spread and travel became commonplace, its inevitable that 'invasive species' should become a worldwide problem. It only has to happen once; you can't ever be careful enough to avoid that. And the most invasive species of all, which erases whole ecosystems and changes everything including the water, soil and weather, is of course, us.
Woa. It's a Rock Lobster!<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDZy6-fMCw4" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDZy6-fMCw4</a>