Last edited Tue Sep 11, 2012, 02:16 PM - Edit history (2)
In the 1930s, Raccoon Coats came into fashion, so Herman Going had some imported so he could set up a Raccoon farm so he could cash in on the latest (1930s) fashion craze. The problem was the craze died, and some of the Raccoon escaped and have been expanding their range throughout Europe ever since.
Another introduced pest is the North American Gray squirrels now dominate the squirrel niche in Britain, almost wiping out the Native Red squirrels. The Gray squirrel is also in Italy, it appears to have been introduced in an American base in Italy. The Gray squirrel is slowing working its way north.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_gray_squirrel
The North American Gray Squirrel, due to its ability to eat a wider selection of food and its ability to live in overlapping territories, just beats out the Native Red Squirrel EXCEPT in areas where the European Pine Marten has been re-introduced. In simple terms the Red squirrel evolved to deal with the Pine Marten, the North American Gray squirrel did not. Thus what causes the Gray to beat out the Red is that the Red's life style reflects the existence of the Pine Martin and the Gray's lifestyle does NOT.
More on the Pine Martin:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_Marten
My "Favorite" story of a introduced "Alien" in Europe is the North American Locust Tree. Imported into Europe for it is one of the best trees to use as posts. In my youth my father NEVER called them Locust Trees, but "Locust Posts" and I name I still use.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey_locust
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_locust
The observation of the Pine Martin and Gray squirrel is interesting, for it shows that one of the best way to end an invasive animal, is to restore things to the way nature intended them to be, not as man has made it. The fact that Gray Squirrels tend to be wiped out where Pine Martins exist is strong evidence of this.
Now the Introduction of the North American Beavers is the result of confusion over its relationship to the Eursasian Beaver. It was once thought they were one species, it now known they are two different, non-interbreedable, species.
More on the European Beaver:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Beaver
http://teora.hit.no/dspace/bitstream/2282/534/3/Population_and_distribution.pdf
More on the North American Beaver:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_beaver
The North American Beavers seem to do better in colder more Northern areas, then the European Beavers:
http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/4007/0
The North American Beaver also appears to be quicker at building a dam and Lodge then the European Beaver:
"C. canadensis seems to be a little more active costructor of dams and
lodges than the Eurasian species"
http://www.nobanis.org/files/factsheets/Castor_canadensis.pdf
This quicker tendency to build a dam, has lead to the North American Beaver to be more disliked in Europe, due to the damage building such dams cause, then European Beavers. European Beavers are often more then content to just live in a borrow in a river bank.
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