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Somehow I doubt the claim that you can get 100 million ladybugs for $75 as the (edit) original post mentioned in the knowyourmeme post claims: https://knowyourm

Somehow I doubt the claim that you can get 100 million ladybugs for $75 as the (edit) original post mentioned in the knowyourmeme post claims: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/ladybug-raid https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/ladybug-raid A gallon seems to be commonly listed as 72k-74k insects and seems to typically cost well above $100. I don't think someone released 5 cubic meters of ladybugs for tiktok. And I'm disappointed that journalists from allegedly reputable media simply parrot such claims as "unverified" without pointing out the implausibility. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIWsAIr5mSg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIWsAIr5mSg from Knowyourmeme shows what happened a bit better.

wodenokoto 4y ago
Yes. The numbers seems vastly exaggerated by the TikTok’ers. But the biologists in the article are concerned not whether or not those examples are hoaxes, but by the oncoming popularity of releasing insects and other animals where they shouldn’t be released.
- tgsovlerkhgsel 4y ago
  Agreed; it is likely that the tiktok'er did release some, probably a few thousands.
  - pvaldes 4y ago
    Would be still a big disaster
    - Jensson 4y ago
      Why? A few thousand ladybugs is like a few thousand flies, there are so many ladybugs already that they wouldn't make a dent. In areas without pesticides you often see hundreds of them sitting and eating the parasites on some bush.
      - pvaldes 4y ago
        Because alien species mate and reproduce, growing exponentially. Hidding a bomb in a building is a much milder menace that causes a damage once. This would be like using a bomb able to make and disseminate more bombs, each one able to make and disseminate more bombs before exploding. And the iteration runs forever basically.
        Jensson 4y ago
        Ladybugs are like houseflies, they exist all over the world.
        popcube 4y ago
        there are many different species of ladybug distribute on the world
        Jensson 4y ago
        But is there any reason to think they released foreign ladybugs? Importing live insects isn't that easy because they could cause problems, much easier to just get domestic ones. Domestic ladybugs exists everywhere.
        pvaldes 4y ago
        And the species of ladybug released is .....? Can you identify and name it? One problem is that it could happen, and if it goes trendy It will happen. Even if this is a hoax, is encouraging a massive audience of children to do the same. For tiktokers there is not difference. After all, If is a ladybug is a fire class pokemon predator of pests. Right? False. Other is that could provide logistic support to people trying to spread it purposely. Another is the message: 1) Environmental laws are something that we shouldn't obey, because we know better than adults... and ice cream, and sparkling unicorns 2) Releasing thousands of cute animals in nature is fine. Even if you are clueless about the risks or can't even identify the animal that you are releasing among the 6000 species of ladybugs. They may not be aware that some ladybug relatives are herbivorous and eat crops (Surprise!). And if you found a zillion of ladybugs in a local area ready to be packed and sent by mail to your cousin, they most probably will fall in this category. They may not be aware that some alien ladybugs are in turn predators of native ladybugs Some even may don't care at all as long as use this virtue signaling videos to win popularity and became the bee-queen in their group of friends
    - hulitu 4y ago
      There are areas where Ladybugs are welcomed. I had to resort to other means to clean lice from my sour cherry tree.
bastawhiz 4y ago
Quickly googling, 100M ladybugs seems like it would weigh almost 1000lbs. That's just the weight of the bugs: you'd need to package all that safely, and the sheer size would be equivalent to a public works project. The cost would be enormous and the time and resources needed to actually put them somewhere would be incredible. It's not just improbable, it's impossible given the logistics and cost. I'd be surprised if you could even source 100M live ladybugs if you had the resources to buy and handle them.

wodenokoto 4y ago

Yes. The numbers seems vastly exaggerated by the TikTok’ers. But the biologists in the article are concerned not whether or not those examples are hoaxes, but by the oncoming popularity of releasing insects and other animals where they shouldn’t be released.

tgsovlerkhgsel 4y ago
Agreed; it is likely that the tiktok'er did release some, probably a few thousands.
- pvaldes 4y ago
  Would be still a big disaster
  - Jensson 4y ago
    Why? A few thousand ladybugs is like a few thousand flies, there are so many ladybugs already that they wouldn't make a dent. In areas without pesticides you often see hundreds of them sitting and eating the parasites on some bush.
    - pvaldes 4y ago
      Because alien species mate and reproduce, growing exponentially. Hidding a bomb in a building is a much milder menace that causes a damage once. This would be like using a bomb able to make and disseminate more bombs, each one able to make and disseminate more bombs before exploding. And the iteration runs forever basically.
      - Jensson 4y ago
        Ladybugs are like houseflies, they exist all over the world.
        popcube 4y ago
        there are many different species of ladybug distribute on the world
        Jensson 4y ago
        But is there any reason to think they released foreign ladybugs? Importing live insects isn't that easy because they could cause problems, much easier to just get domestic ones. Domestic ladybugs exists everywhere.
        pvaldes 4y ago
        And the species of ladybug released is .....? Can you identify and name it? One problem is that it could happen, and if it goes trendy It will happen. Even if this is a hoax, is encouraging a massive audience of children to do the same. For tiktokers there is not difference. After all, If is a ladybug is a fire class pokemon predator of pests. Right? False. Other is that could provide logistic support to people trying to spread it purposely. Another is the message: 1) Environmental laws are something that we shouldn't obey, because we know better than adults... and ice cream, and sparkling unicorns 2) Releasing thousands of cute animals in nature is fine. Even if you are clueless about the risks or can't even identify the animal that you are releasing among the 6000 species of ladybugs. They may not be aware that some ladybug relatives are herbivorous and eat crops (Surprise!). And if you found a zillion of ladybugs in a local area ready to be packed and sent by mail to your cousin, they most probably will fall in this category. They may not be aware that some alien ladybugs are in turn predators of native ladybugs Some even may don't care at all as long as use this virtue signaling videos to win popularity and became the bee-queen in their group of friends
  - hulitu 4y ago
    There are areas where Ladybugs are welcomed. I had to resort to other means to clean lice from my sour cherry tree.

bastawhiz 4y ago

Quickly googling, 100M ladybugs seems like it would weigh almost 1000lbs. That's just the weight of the bugs: you'd need to package all that safely, and the sheer size would be equivalent to a public works project. The cost would be enormous and the time and resources needed to actually put them somewhere would be incredible. It's not just improbable, it's impossible given the logistics and cost. I'd be surprised if you could even source 100M live ladybugs if you had the resources to buy and handle them.