A remote island's battle against seabird-killing ants (2015) (opens in new tab)

But helping the overall ecosystem of the planet. We’ve made it very difficult for birds and other animals.

It’s ok to pick winners when you’ve already broken everything past the point where it’s a healthy planet.

> Notorious invaders likely native to West Africa or perhaps Asia, crazy ants cross the high seas on driftwood or as stowaways on vessels...

It doesn't seem to mention which is the culprit in this case, but it may be an unnatural cause after all - especially given the distance to this island.

Yeah but I don’t give a fuck about nature doing natural things. I give a lot of fucks about ensuring that eco diversity is preserved and right now that means hill climbing. I’m okay with local optima because I know mankind survived in one.

Birds are cute. Ants are creepy.

This is the current evolutionary force. Over time, all life on Earth will evolve to be cute.

Technically, we're part of the natural ecosystem as well...

but birds outrank ants.

Thanks! We've changed the URL to that from https://www.audubon.org/magazine/july-august-2015/one-remote....

Edit: changed back since people made reasonable objections.

I'm curious. The 2015 article said they'd killed 99% of the ants, but it took 6 more years to kill the rest? There's more to the story.

I agree.

I also sense a desperate Hollywood clinging to this as a "reboot" to 'Them!'.