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Feral desert donkeys are digging wells, giving water to parched wildlife (2021)
- ChrisMarshallNY 3y agoThere’s a Beavis and Butthead joke, in there, somewhere… I guess not all ass holes are bad…
- defrost 3y agoIt's a serious and sorely needed comparative study of Australian and American ass holes.
- mojomark 3y agoI heard that in the American desert plain, shielded by Pacific Coast mountains, the lack of wind leads to a reduced sand movement and ultimately sun-bleaching of our holes. This discoloration confuses local fauna.
- fakedang 3y agoI need a teepee for my ass hole. Hehehehehe (snorts)
- MiddleEndian 3y ago[flagged]
- m3kw9 3y agoThat’s a good Ass
- dabluecaboose 3y agoThe burros are burrowing?
- indus 3y agoI am liking them ass holes.
- ComputerGuru 3y agoWhat a bittersweet article. It’s amazing to see how these feral horses and donkeys are making the ecosystem friendlier for the native wildlife but it’s damn depressing to realize that our massacre of megafauna didn’t just end with the extinction of various great species but contributed to the overall decline of the ecosystem and probably the extinction or extirpation of hundreds of other, indirectly influenced flora and fauna.
- vanderZwan 3y agoOn a similar note: George Monbiot once wrote an article (don't have the time to spend a half hour searching it) where he laments that most conservation societies are basically just a bunch of local volunteers trying to preserve nature as they remember it from their childhood... not realizing that that ecology was already incredibly impoverished. Which then results in sad scenarios where, say, a local forest is left alone and starts to recover, and starts to show signs of ecological succession[0], which is then stopped by these conservation societies. Because that usually implies new species of trees and shrubs that weren't in the version of nature they remember, and are therefore deemed "invasive". Nature conservation is full of good intentions hampered by a lack of ecological understanding. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecological_succession https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecological_succession
- bombcar 3y agoIt might be https://www.monbiot.com/2013/07/16/the-naturalists-who-are-terrified-of-nature/ https://www.monbiot.com/2013/07/16/the-naturalists-who-are-t... or similar. Strange to see how different Britain is from the USA, maybe because the USA is slightly bigger. Around here there's any number of conservation/wildlife preserves and they literally buy land, maybe put a trail through it and a dinky dirt parking lot at the trailhead, and then just leave it alone. As in literally don't do anything.
- seabass-labrax 3y agoIt wasn't clear to me whether 'around here' from your comment refers to Britain or the USA.
- keiferwiseman 3y agoI love donkeys. IMO they are the most underrated animal in terms of cuteness, They are easily S-tier. My dream is to run a Free-Open-Source-Software incubator/commune that also has donkeys.
- a2tech 3y agoMy grandmother had them when I was growing up. Their adorable assholes. Like fat dogs. They love attention and are very stubborn and patient when it comes to getting their way. Our English mastiff had a lot of donkey tendency--heavy, loved pets and treats, would do the heavy lean on you when they wanted attention. Better than a horse in every way.
- MarkMarine 3y agoI love them as well, ever since I read about the feral donkeys on the Big Island of Hawaii and couldn’t stop laughing to myself about the “trouble” they were getting into, braying all night and annoying the humans. Do you want a friendly animal who will also guard your flock of sheep? Get a “guard donkey,” the only downside being they hate dogs and will stomp them given the chance. My son and I are watching YouTube videos about donkeys right now. Lovable creatures. If you start and incubator that also has Donkeys please look me up.
- bashmelek 3y agoCount me in! I’ve been doing a lot of donkey-related reading lately and would certainly be interested in a donkey startup! What fascinated me was how important they were in the past, I never realized.
- dreen 3y agoFYI the most expensive cheese in the world comes from a certain kind of donkey. I only know this because I am a moose enthusiast, their cheese being the second most expensive.
- kirubakaran 3y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pule_cheese https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pule_cheese
- datavirtue 3y agoI read this as "monkeys" several times trying to digest the headline. I scroll down and see donkeys. Brow furrows, continue to sip coffee.
- MiddleEndian 3y agoI read it as "federal donkeys" at first when I woke up.
- Jedd 3y ago> Our research didn’t evaluate the impact of donkey-dug wells in arid Australia. But Australia is home to most of the world’s feral donkeys, and it’s likely their wells support wildlife in similar ways. Definitely possible, but not sure on likelihood - the water table in the arid parts of Australia is going to be pretty deep. TFA cited 4m deep holes made by modern wombats - but the holes they dig tend to be narrow, as their burrows are defensive - so the claim made: > In Australia, for example, a pair of common wombats were recently documented digging a 4m-deep well, which was used by numerous species, such as wallabies, emus, goannas and various birds, during a severe drought. ... is hard to reconcile. A 4 metre deep standing water table would mean most deep-rooted trees, and many tougher smaller plants (eg comfrey, vetiver, maybe grasses like lucerne/alfalfa) would sustain through drought, and that's clearly not the case. I'm sure there's some benefit to native wildlife to have these introduced animals dig and expose water, but I'm sure the damage they cause outweighs it.
- dizhn 3y agoThe section you quoted at the top just isn't the same without it's title.
- aaron695 3y ago[dead]
- justrealist 3y agoIt's about digging in intermittently wet streambeds (where the water is likely very close to the surface for a long time after the stream dries), not the middle of the desert.
- AnotherGoodName 3y agoI think the whole article is biased and far too targeted to trying to make a case not to cull invasive species, particularly in Australia. Kangaroos dig wells. The arguments made here that somehow with a very long bow you could justify some benefits from these non-native species but they have to pretend that those benefits don't already exist from native species to do this.
- laputan_machine 3y ago> However, as we show in a new research paper in Science, these animals do something amazing that has long been overlooked: they dig wells — or “ass holes”. Unnecessarily childish
- cpursley 3y agoLife is short, a little laughter and humor make it more bearable.
- veave 3y agoI agree with you in principle, but nowadays, every newspaper seems to try hard to cram as many puns as possible in every article and it gets boring fast.
- mc32 3y agoIndeed. I was liking the article but then it included the opportunistic “ass holes” and “mass shootings” where what they refer to already has a specific term “culling”. It’s the journalist version of “your momma so…”
- myshpa 3y ago"Despite these ecological benefits in desert environments, feral animals have long been denied the care, curiosity and respect native species deservedly receive. Instead, these animals are targeted by culling programs for conservation and the meat industry." "However, there are signs of change. New fields such as compassionate conservation and multispecies justice are expanding conservation’s moral world, and challenging the idea that only native species matter." We should be kind to all kinds.
- gottorf 3y agoWe should be, but we end up treating cats and dogs differently than we do rats and centipedes.
- myshpa 3y agoBecause we're not quite there yet. And "pests" are pests usually due to human-caused imbalances in ecosystems. Addressing the root of the issue, such as biodiversity loss, would solve a lot.
- gottorf 3y agoThat's quite the romantic view of nature. My view is that nature is indeed red in tooth and claw, and that almost every species regard almost every other species as pests. Homes, human or otherwise, are virtually defined by the absence of undesirable critters. If cows could be rid of flies buzzing about, they would. Increasing biodiversity would most likely also mean increased diversity of pests. Would we not be bothered by mosquitoes, if we had a lighter footstep on the environment? I'm sure cavemen also got bit and stung.
- Modified3019 3y agoFunny enough that’s exactly what happens here in Oregon. Most of the wetlands were drained for farming, or just because we could. Turns out our selfish human geo-engineering had benefits to humans. Whenever we restore a wetlands, the area goes from “surprisingly low amounts of mosquitoes most of the time” back to “fuck I can’t go outside” https://www.opb.org/news/article/restored-marsh-breeds-swarms-of-mosquitoes-on-oreg/ https://www.opb.org/news/article/restored-marsh-breeds-swarm... There are ways to somewhat mitigate this through more intelligent wetland design methods, but ultimately no way to even mostly resolve the problem without more intensive control methods, which sometimes end up being pesticides.
- mikhailfranco 3y agoHerbivores that cut plants when they bite are far more benign than those that pull up the whole plant and eat the roots. For example, camels have evolved to coexist with the plants that briefly flourish in the desert after rains. Goats just consume everything and will die in a second season.
- macinjosh 3y agoI saw the feral desert donkey headline and was wondering my ex was in the news.
- rhyme-boss 3y agoImagine being super thirsty and having to dig, with hooves, through hot desert sands for a sip of water.
- retrac 3y agoAs terrible as the consequences of humanity will be for biodiversity and life on Earth, there is a strange silver lining. We seem to be one of the most intense, unprecedented, sudden, and multifaceted selection pressures life has ever experienced on Earth. We affect everything from the DNA and biochemistry to continent-wide land use. We are creating weird, new, toxic environments all over the planet, to which existing life must adapt. We're going to see all sorts of weird and wonderful novel behaviours evolve in basically every form of remaining life over the next few millennia, assuming we're still here to see it.
- psychphysic 3y agoOnly really toxic for us. The rest of the world doesn't care as we're the only beings capable of understanding the misery we are inflicting.
- edgyquant 3y agoYeah this. Humans aren’t destroying life on earth they’re changing it and forcing new species to evolve. Who knows how weird the world will be in a million years: what creatures will evolve to feed on humans. Terrible is not an objective measure either. Oxygen and asteroids destroyed most life on earth but neither was terrible, they just were. The only reason people think we’re doing terrible things is because we’ve convinced ourselves we aren’t a natural part of the biosphere that adapted to what we’re doing now.
- ornornor 3y agoIsn’t it about control? An asteroid coming down is random as in no one caused it. What we’re doing is different: it’s a conscious choice and course of action (collectively). We didn’t really know in the beginning but we’ve knows for decades and collectively chose to continue mostly unabated. By that token we as a species are fully responsible for what’s happening in my opinion.
- gen220 3y agoHere's hoping 2200 will be the century of the Polymerphage (some bacterium whose favorite food is polymers, i.e. plastics). It'll be interesting to see what effect it has on the whole food supply chain, as we're pretty dependent on the idea of polymers "keeping out" the things that normally eat our food before we'd get the chance to. Maybe we'll go back to only eating crazy fermented and spicy things.
- tpoacher 3y agoThis entire article was a pretext for that "Ass Holes" pun in the middle, wasn't it. xD
- thih9 3y agoYes it was. For those that didn’t see it, in the middle there is a headline: > Ass holes in Australia
- kevinlinxc 3y agoI came to the comments just to make this pun
- karaterobot 3y ago> Despite these ecological benefits in desert environments, feral animals have long been denied the care, curiosity and respect native species deservedly receive... > However, there are signs of change. New fields such as compassionate conservation and multispecies justice are expanding conservation’s moral world, and challenging the idea that only native species matter. I never heard anyone make the argument that "only native species matter", that sounds like a framing. The issue with feral species is that in many cases they drive out native species and have a destructive impact on the ecology in a way that is hard to mitigate. I hope that these compassionate conservationists are also big picture conservationists who evaluate the system as a whole.
- bitxbitxbitcoin 3y agoDonkeys and horses should be managed like every other wildlife under the North American model of wildlife conservation.
- s1artibartfast 3y agoThis reminds me of the Schizophrenic public policy with respect to invasive horses in the US south west. We simultaneously engage in publically funded programs to feed them during the winter, and programs to control the population in the summer. Conflicting interest groups want differnt things. Environmentalists want to protect native habitiat and animals, while horse enthsiasts can't stand to let them suffer the hardships of a wild life.
- Fat_Thor 3y ago[dead]
- dramm 3y agoThis expatriate Australian thought the "Ass holes in Australia" was pretty funny.
- icreateaccount 3y agoGood to see my mother-in-law is being productive