Interesting/Little Known introduced populations

Pleistohorse said:
I’d like to see a reference supporting this. I would think a Whitetail Fallow Hybrid would not be possible, but I’ve been wrong about a lot of things. I know that Sika have been crossed with both Red Deer and Wapiti...and that Wisconsin has (or had) a small population of Sika...is it possible that’s the source of this information?
Click to expand...
Wisconsin's Sika population is no more.

I'm honestly surprised to find so little info on the net on this subject, which is relatively well-known to hunters and naturalists in the area.

Wisconsin's white deer population creating a dilemma - Outdoornews

Even though this article uses the word "speculate" there is A LOT of evidence. White deer, the now extirpated Fallow Deer population, and frequent hunting ranch escapes all point toward this conclusion. Especially when you consider the areas with former Fallow populations and escapees are spots were a few years later the deer look odd.
 
birdsandbats said:
Even though this article uses the word "speculate" there is A LOT of evidence. White deer, the now extirpated Fallow Deer population, and frequent hunting ranch escapes all point toward this conclusion.
Click to expand...

I'm with @Pleistohorse - there really isn't anything to this but wild unfounded speculation. WTD and Fallow Deer belong to completely different branches of the Cervidae, with at least 12 million years of separation; in terms of genetic distance it's akin to human X orangutan hybridisation.
 
birdsandbats said:
I'm honestly surprised to find so little info on the net on this subject, which is relatively well-known to hunters and naturalists in the area.

Wisconsin's white deer population creating a dilemma - Outdoornews

Even though this article uses the word "speculate" there is A LOT of evidence. White deer, the now extirpated Fallow Deer population, and frequent hunting ranch escapes all point toward this conclusion. Especially when you consider the areas with former Fallow populations and escapees are spots were a few years later the deer look odd.
Click to expand...
Where exactly is this evidence of which you speak? Generally, if "there is A LOT of evidence" for something, then that evidence is readily available. Here, there is absolutely zero evidence. Saying "these White-tailed Deer are white, and there used to be white Fallow Deer kept here, therefore hybrids" doesn't follow in the slightest.
 
Chlidonias said:
Where exactly is this evidence of which you speak? Generally, if "there is A LOT of evidence" for something, then that evidence is readily available. Here, there is absolutely zero evidence. Saying "these White-tailed Deer are white, and there used to be white Fallow Deer kept here, therefore hybrids" doesn't follow in the slightest.
Click to expand...
Especially when you consider the vast range of hoofstock that have produced white individuals, from Blackbuck to Bison, from Muntjac to Red Deer.
 
vogelcommando said:
Hippos in Texas ! ( from Facebook ) :

Say Hello to our newest invasive species!

4 to 6 adult Hippos were spotted in the Rio Grande this weekend and are plans to capture them are on the way by Texas authorities. It’s thought that they escaped from a captive group housed in Zapatas Mexico further down river. These are likely relatives to the "wild" hippos of Colombia that are the result of Pablo Escobar's private zoo gone wild.
Click to expand...
I was just looking into this. The photo is a single image "from social media". The hippos supposedly had escaped from a game ranch in Zapata, Texas (nothing to do with "Zapatas, Mexico" or with Colombia's hippos). The local wildlife officials in Texas say there is no evidence that the story is real.
 
Puerto Rico has a lot of established exotics, including some probably-obvious ones like Green Iguanas and some less-obvious ones like Common Boa, Burmese Python, and Spectacled Caiman.

A surprising one for me, though, is Patas Monkey.

Patas were released on the islands of Cueva and Guayacan (in the southwest of Puerto Rico) in the 1970s to establish research colonies. Because the islands are literally right offshore, monkeys made their own way to the mainland and are now well-established in the Lajas region.

There is a well-known research island off the eastern coast of Puerto Rico called Cayo Santiago which has c.1000 wild-living Rhesus Macaques. Less well-known is that there are also some smaller groups living wild in mainland forests.


Elsewhere in the Caribbean (in the Lesser Antilles) there are Vervets and Mona Monkeys.


There is also a wild colony of Vervets in Thailand, established from animals which escaped from the Safari World Bangkok, but there is very little available about it on the internet.
 
Pleistohorse said:
I’d like to see a reference supporting this. I would think a Whitetail Fallow Hybrid would not be possible, but I’ve been wrong about a lot of things. I know that Sika have been crossed with both Red Deer and Wapiti...and that Wisconsin has (or had) a small population of Sika...is it possible that’s the source of this information?
Click to expand...
I would think Fallow x Whitetailed Deer would be infertile, if it was even possible, as parent species are not related in any way. Sika is more closely related to Red deer/Wapiti so can hybridise and hybrids would probably be fertile too.
 
birdsandbats said:
Wisconsin's Sika population is no more.

I'm honestly surprised to find so little info on the net on this subject, which is relatively well-known to hunters and naturalists in the area.

Wisconsin's white deer population creating a dilemma - Outdoornews

Even though this article uses the word "speculate" there is A LOT of evidence. White deer, the now extirpated Fallow Deer population, and frequent hunting ranch escapes all point toward this conclusion. Especially when you consider the areas with former Fallow populations and escapees are spots were a few years later the deer look odd.
Click to expand...

I can offer an alternative reason why white White-tailed deer( not hybrids), may be appearing more frequently. It is a simple recessive genetic trait so needs either two white animals, or two normal coloured carriers of the gene, to mate to produce (possibly) another white animal. If these white animals are being protected, the chances of them breeding together or with normal -coloured carriers of the gene becomes increasingly great, as selection is working in their favour, resulting in more and more white deer appearing. Nothing to do with Fallow deer.
 
I have plans to visit Sheboygan Indian Mound Park soon, where a resident pair of Great Tits are found (and nest every year). I will try to take and upload photos. :)
 
American Crows ad Northern Cardinals are both introduced in Bermuda, but the most interesting introduced bird in Bermuda is the Great Kiskadee, introduced in 1951 in an attempt to control anoles.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top