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Our latest research reveals that the ecological "pawprint" of domestic dogs is much greater than previously realised.
Using the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, we counted how many species are negatively affected by dogs, assessed the prevalence of different types of impacts, and identified regions with the greatest number of affected species.
Dogs are third-most-damaging mammal
We found that dogs are implicated in the extinction of at least 11 species, including the Hawaiian Rail and the Tonga Ground Skink. Dogs are also a known or potential threat to 188 threatened species worldwide: 96 mammal, 78 bird, 22 reptile and three amphibian species. This includes 30, two of which are classed as "possibly extinct".
These numbers place dogs in the number three spot after cats and rodents as the world's most damaging invasive mammalian predators.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by J_Darnley on Wednesday May 03 2017, @10:54PM (10 children)
Man isn't the most damaging invasive mammalian predator? We don't even crack the top 3?
(Score: 2, Funny) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday May 03 2017, @11:00PM (1 child)
Wholesome American White folk who own cats and dogs don't allow our animals to attack endangered species. Our animals are fed by our own hand and the occasional vermin or critter, but we breed them responsibly and don't let our litters go feral.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Grishnakh on Thursday May 04 2017, @02:20AM
That's total bullshit. I've spent way too much time in the South to know that there's no truth to this at all.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 03 2017, @11:01PM (1 child)
Humans aren't invasive, unless you count Mexicans.
Build the Wall!
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Thursday May 04 2017, @12:58AM
YES! We are the most intelligent species on Earth... You're right!
DING DING, you win the edumacation award!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 3, Insightful) by charon on Wednesday May 03 2017, @11:11PM
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 03 2017, @11:36PM (3 children)
We are the root cause for ALL TOP 3 cases. We are in the top 3, thought as 1,2,3, since recondize we are the worst.
1) Cats - note not wild felines (tigers, lions, ...) - They were domesticated for our pleasure. The population grew in cause-and-effect with our population. There are too many to be sustainable on their own. Feral cats are there from us too. Either releasing them to catch and kill rodents or let loose becuase not wanted anymore. They survive because of us too, since we leave a lot of food available for other critters.
2) Rodents - Again, population grew in cause-and-effect with our population. We leave to many good food sources for them eat, plus add in other critters that they eat also living off of our trailing. You get the picture. We leave places for them to live and rasie litters. We try to control them with Cats and Dogs.
3) Dogs - Follow the same pattern as the Cats for their population and their fod supplies.
Now toss in Rabbits in Australia eating food supplies of Marsupial bring down their population. Also toss in Dingoes ("feral" dogs) eating Marsupials. Also Rodents in New Zealand, eating the food supplies for ground birds. Mankind just is source of all the Evil.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Grishnakh on Thursday May 04 2017, @02:37AM (2 children)
1) Cats - note not wild felines (tigers, lions, ...) - They were domesticated for our pleasure.
No, they were domesticated for their usefulness in rodent control. Many scientists don't even consider them fully domesticated, because we don't control their reproduction or food supply the way we do with dogs.
(Score: 1) by Burz on Thursday May 04 2017, @05:33PM
This is true... and it should be noted that 'domesticated' human-fed cat populations have soared and are contributing to a crash in bird populations.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 04 2017, @05:56PM
For you pleasure does not always mean pleasure as fun.but filling a need rat control or purring are both for our pleasure.
(Score: 1) by DavePolaschek on Thursday May 04 2017, @04:02PM
Man is number zero as the world's most damaging invasive mammalian predator. C not Pascal.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Unixnut on Wednesday May 03 2017, @11:00PM (6 children)
I think the word you are looking for is "successful". This is evolution in action. They are better predators than whatever species were there before, so they end up on top.
If one day they cease being as well suited due to a better predator appearing (or their prey has evolved defences), then we shall see a reversal in their population, until they improve to fit the situation or they themselves go extinct.
Species go extinct all the time, but at the same time the rest of life evolves and alters, and one day new species will form the same way old ones branched out in the past.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 03 2017, @11:41PM (5 children)
They were "successful" because of Man. We took away their predators. We feed them when the land cannot support them. There is no evolution here, more in line is bacteria in a grow medium, yeast in vat of mash. They just grow and grow.
(Score: 4, Funny) by bob_super on Thursday May 04 2017, @12:48AM (1 child)
Also, "dog" needs to be further qualified, because no Pug has ever threatened anything, beyond its own lungs.
(Score: 3, Funny) by arslan on Thursday May 04 2017, @02:35AM
Hear! hear! My pug lost in a stare down with a skink half her size!
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Unixnut on Thursday May 04 2017, @09:03AM (2 children)
> They were "successful" because of Man. We took away their predators. We feed them when the land cannot support them. There is no evolution here, more in line is bacteria in a grow medium, yeast in vat of mash. They just grow and grow.
And that in itself is a successful evolutionary strategy. Dogs formed a beneficial symbiotic relationship with man, who has turned out to be the most successful predator on earth. In return for their service to us (which can be anything from helping protect our homes, helping us hunt food, or just looking cute) we have helped them grow and succeed along with us. Just like we are responsible for the survival of chickens, cows and other life forms that would go extinct if it wasn't for us.
Again, evolution in action. Nature is full of such symbiotic relationships.
(Score: 1) by Burz on Thursday May 04 2017, @05:24PM (1 child)
So the sharp loss in biodiversity, due to our actions, is just 'nature at work'? Somehow I don't think many ecologists would agree.
Tip: Don't use terms like "evolution" and "symbiotic relationships" and expect people to consider them only within the myopic "chickens, cows and homes" box you constructed.
(Score: 2) by Unixnut on Friday May 05 2017, @06:16AM
> So the sharp loss in biodiversity, due to our actions, is just 'nature at work'?
Yep
> Somehow I don't think many ecologists would agree.
Quite a few do agree (from those I discussed it with at least). They may not agree that it is a good thing, and that as the animals with the highest intelligence (allegedly) we should put more effort into conservation of other species rather than follow our base natural desires to wipe out anything we don't like (like mosquitoes).
> Tip: Don't use terms like "evolution" and "symbiotic relationships" and expect people to consider them only within the myopic "chickens, cows and homes" box you constructed.
Tip for you too: if someone gives some examples to illustrate a particular point, it doesn't make it a box. I am not going to list every single specifies that forms symbiotic relations, nor will I list every single species that has done badly or gone extinct due to being out-competed. The box is in your mind, not mine, apparently, as I never expected people to consider only those.
(Score: 2) by its_gonna_be_yuge! on Wednesday May 03 2017, @11:08PM
Skinky, I hardly knew ye.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 03 2017, @11:15PM (1 child)
Survival of the fittest. Not 'invasive', 'damaging' or other such nonsense.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday May 03 2017, @11:22PM
Wait until those Javelinas and gophers rape your nice landscaping and eat all your vegetables.
Oh, city folk are ya? Well, those ants and bedbugs and termites will eat your place too, just a lot slower.
(Score: 2) by archfeld on Thursday May 04 2017, @02:35AM (2 children)
Cattle are not predators, otherwise I am quite sure they'd be way up there on the list. Humans are not predators either, we are pretty obviously parasites on the planet, fsck'n up anything and everything we come into contact with.
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 04 2017, @09:58AM (1 child)
Since you feel that way, the obvious solution is: kill yourself.
(Score: 2) by archfeld on Friday May 05 2017, @03:13AM
Nah I'd rather hang out and be the bane of your existence, more fun that way :)
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
(Score: -1, Troll) by idiot_king on Thursday May 04 2017, @03:33AM (7 children)
Dogs are dirty and completely unnecessary for modern civilization. They are parasitic in nature and cannot survive without humans lest they return to their wolf roots. It's no surprise that they are often considered dirty or even food in some cultures. The West has just had an affinity for them for some reason. Pigs are DISGUSTING but are even smarter than dogs and have better noses for finding drugs et al. It's just a peculiarity with the West that they (meaning white people) care so much about them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 04 2017, @04:26AM (3 children)
Dogs are pack animals with a hierarchy.
They have a respect for the alpha dog in the pack.
If a dog can be convinced that a human is the alpha, that suits a lot of humans.
OTOH, calling cats "domesticated" strikes me odd.
Anybody ever get a cat to follow a command or do -anything- that it didn't want to do itself?
There's a reason that "herding cats" is a name for accomplishing impossible things.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday May 04 2017, @08:33AM (2 children)
Eh, kind of. At my first job there's a female cat who was a rescue. She's missing the tip of her left ear due to abuse and has what looks like a cat version of PTSD, nervous and fearful. We bonded about 2 years ago, a couple months after I started working there.
It's about 50/50 she'll come if i get her attention with a sort of "prrrrrrew~" made by vibrating the tongue against the upper teeth. She *loves* me petting her and gives me the slow blink a lot. Will also rub on me and try and wash whatever bit of my arm is closest to her now and then, and sometimes she'll even hop into my lap and make biscuits. This definitely isn't anything like training a dog to come on command, but she seems to trust me at least.
Cats are solitary, so domesticating them per se probably isn't going to happen, but we can try to meet them on their own terms...
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by Webweasel on Thursday May 04 2017, @02:59PM (1 child)
make biscuits???? Could you explain that please?
Not so sure they are solitary, I have noticed when travelling in Europe that the feral cats seem to herd together.
I have 3 cats at home and they are not solitary, they socialise with each other and with the neighbours cats. All 3 are pretty chill so some days I find 6 cats sitting on the table at the end of my garden. The neighbour cats seem to have worked out how chill mine are and my garden seems to be the safe place they all hang out.
I have also read that cats only meow for humans, my anecdotal evidence says otherwise, my cats talk to each other all the time. They greet each other, meow to get space at the food bowl, play together. This could be my influence of course, I make sure to spend time with my cats. Normally, when I arrive home all 3 will be sitting on the doorstep waiting for me and I get a cacophony of greeting meows when I get home. I meow at them all the time almost developing our own language. I know my cats happy meows, food ones, water ones, I want attention from the other side of the room but I'm not coming to you meows, I caught a mouse and am really happy meows. I think they are far more domesticated than we think.. but know cats perhaps mine domesticated me? I wouldn't be surprised.
Priyom.org Number stations, Russian Military radio. "You are a bad, bad man. Do you have any other virtues?"-Runaway1956
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday May 04 2017, @07:05PM
Oh, "making biscuits" is a slang term for what's called milk treading. You know when your cat hops in your lap and rubs with her front paws like she's kneading dough? That :) I'm told it means they're feeling safe and content.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 3, Touché) by butthurt on Thursday May 04 2017, @05:10AM
> It's no surprise that they are often considered dirty or even food in some cultures.
In which cultures are the concepts of food and dirtiness similar?
(Score: 2) by art guerrilla on Thursday May 04 2017, @12:56PM (1 child)
@ idiot king:
grrrrrRRRRR
*BARK*BARK*BARK*
GRRRRRRRrrrrr
you come around here, it will be a race to see if it is me or my dogs who bite you first...
dog damn, i hates me a dog hater...
not sure they qualify as human beans...
(Score: 2) by archfeld on Friday May 05 2017, @03:19AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCzRzOfj5vE [youtube.com]
Can you hear me ? I hear you...
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge