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Here is one of the Joker cards for the Endangered Ark card deck. He's in your outback, eating your numbats.
Taking second place to feral house cats, the red fox is one of Australia's most problematic invasive predator. They were originally brought over in 1855 from Europe for the purpose of recreational hunting. Since then, their numbers have exploded, estimated around 7 million animals. They are responsible for the decline of many small marsupials, including the numbat. The fox is a very adaptable, elusive and prolific animal, and as such, is nearly impossible to contain or control. It continues to decimate populations of native species and there is no foreseeable solution.
Taking second place to feral house cats, the red fox is one of Australia's most problematic invasive predator. They were originally brought over in 1855 from Europe for the purpose of recreational hunting. Since then, their numbers have exploded, estimated around 7 million animals. They are responsible for the decline of many small marsupials, including the numbat. The fox is a very adaptable, elusive and prolific animal, and as such, is nearly impossible to contain or control. It continues to decimate populations of native species and there is no foreseeable solution.
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he counts as much as necrophilia
also cawks.
omg now i definitly feel better
sure i'm overweight but... hmm that's about it.
i think.
jk
I've seen some of the sick ones.
*sigh * gotta love teh early Europeans and their reasons for bringing diffrent animals to diffrent lands.....
An Dingos are excaped ships dogs.
OH NO yet another species that needs to be regulated, BUT ISN'T.
What Is being Human truly mean?
2. I'm able to see past my own humanity to see our species is overpopulated and making a mess of itself.
3. Ooooh wow, you should take a gander at my Youtube page, I made a nice little speech about just how much like an infection the human species is. I'm doing my part by not breeding and encouraging others not to.
4. something tells me you like to talk a lot.
The Fox:
Patience, wisdom, intelligence, adaptability. Fox people can be high strung or exceedingly calm, charismatic or mysterious, prone to stand out or blend in, keep peace or make mischief. They tend to be partially rooted in the spirit world, living day to day in sort of a ‘world between’. Foxes are a strong symbol of femininity, shape-shifting, illusion, and magic.
*shrugs*
an alot of cats aren't adaptable depending on the breed, an i've met alot of some damn retarded cats in my life XDDD
but regardless, it could be in some cases
As with adaptable? Psh, they are one of the most invasive animals in Australia, if I'm not mistaken. Evolution works on them, too.
the cat will be sitting there chillin, then suddenly flips the frick out and does things that makes NO sense. an it's not just one cat... most cats i've come in contact with have been like that, as far as i know for a human that would be either called ADHD, sugared up... or retarded XD
an it's not evolution that is working right now since they haven't really changed much in the last couple hundred years, it's their ability to eat their own crap an survive (not literally of course)... i guess that IS pretty adaptable, though i wouldn't wanna do it.
but if you take a bunch of long hairs and stick them in some extremely hot and humid place they aren't suddenly going to become bald cats, they are going to die. same as short haired or bald cats living in extremely cold climates.
it's only if they survive the harsh extremities do slight changes occur. that was what i meant by adaptability. but meh. i'm not a huge cat fan, i mean they're fun an cute an all, but i dun care to discuss cats further XDDDD
Eating their own shit? Sounds more like dogs, again, I see them do it all the time, sometimes when it's fresh from the source.
Plus, I'm being generous with the whole range of cats when I say adaptable. A medium haired cat could survive in either arid or cold climates I'm sure. Not changed much? Is that a joke? They're changing all the time with each litter they produce, notice how a lot of sibling kittens turn out looking completely different than each other depending on the parents? That's changing, evolution my friend. It's foxes that haven't changed very much, but that's because they're wild, they can't afford to evolve so rapidly as domestic animals.
Another cat hater.
Meh. . .
That's all. I believe this conversation has been over.
And you were the one who brought it up in the first place
Nevermind, just read thigns a little more carefully in future ... And remember that jumping to conclusions annoys people and makes you look silly.
B) you made a mistake so we are simply correcting you, ta daaa
But yeah, it was Disney :p
It's such a good piece, but the description is so.... slightly disheartening.
I got three foxes in my garden. Foxes are so cute XD
http://gallery.badboybunny.com/index.php?level=album&id=11
Great piece and good title to!
We have cane toads at my zoo. I use them to educate people on the dangers of introduces/releasing non-native species. That subject is a fav of mine.
in order to save the numbats you gotta start killing the foxes. people brought them there to begin with and now we have to do something about it, as cute and fluffy as they are.
I've been studying foxes in detail for 17 years, and I can honestly say that killing them won't do much to alter the fox population - all you do is persuade the survivors to produce more cubs, which in turn will put more pressure on the other creatures lower down the food chain - like numbats, in this case.
And that's without going into the moral argument. Have you ever heard a fox scream when it finds the dead body of its mate?
The only logical - and humane - answer is to produce a non-harmful "vaccination" (for want of a better term) that will leave them infertile. Of course, the same would need to be done to other invasive species (like rodents) at the same time, or you'd be setting off a population time bomb...
The thing with overpopulation is that animals are territorial and after a while they will start fighting each other for resources, and land to live in. I think hunting them WOULD achieve something, it worked for other species of animals, (look at what happened to the North American wolves and buffalos) and foxes arent intelligent enough to notice the popluation dropping drastically and thinking "hey we need to make more babies all year round to make up for the loss", but a more effective way would probably be to capture and release them somewhere else if you dont want them dead (including another continent if you must). or like you said make some of the population infertile.
Anyway, something's gotta be done if you dont want another species to go extinct, as much as I love foxes.
It's been proven here in Britain: in areas where food is plentiful and the fox population low, they produce *more* cubs in a single litter to compensate. (They can't breed all year round - the vixens can't biologically manage it, and even the tame ones can't successfully produce even two litters a year!) However, if the population density is higher, they produce fewer cubs per litter.
(Red foxes can have litters of up to 12 - and their arctic fox cousins can even manage 20!!)
If you kill 60-70% of the fox population a year (that's roughly the percentage that die by one means or another here), the population will still remain static, thanks to an increased number of cubs per litter. This means they'd simply be killed for killings sake - and that's what's so morally repulsive about the idea. It would be little more than a wanton bloodbath, with nothing achieved - and could possibly even make the situation worse.
(Here in Britain, the rat and rabbit populations are spiralling out of control - and it doesn't help that their main predators are forever being targetted...)
Besides, the Australian authorities have already *tried* that - and it failed. The foxes' own evolutionary traits have ensured that it's extremely difficult to wipe them out in this way. Hence why they were (last time I heard!) looking into the "vaccination" option. I don't want the numbats to become extinct, either - or any of Australia's indigenous species, for that matter - but this is still the only viable way to reduce/eliminate the fox population.
2) The type of animal isnt the matter here, its the population. They arent intelligent enough to *know* they're populations are decreasing. Buffalos, wolves, Nutria, foxes..it doesnt matter. If you hunt enough animals the population will decline. Wolves had to be reintroduced in North America to get their population up again
3)"fixing" the foxes with a vaccination would be immensely expensive.
Im sorry foxes are being targeted in your area and your rabbits are out of control, but we're talking about australia. You obviously love foxes which is why you are argueing against my point of hunting them. Im sorry you feel like shit because foxes are being killed, but not everybody can be happy. The foxes are a problem so they have to be taken care of. Its not just the fact that the foxes are reproducing, its the fact that they are destroying other populations of species. You can make them infertile but they still have to eat.
OR heres another option, lets release all the fox furries out in australia and let them fuck the fox population into oblideration.
Im done arguing, this is the internet, if someone thinks their right then there's no way in hell they're wrong.
Some animals (particularly foxes) do produce more offspring if their territory is large (ie. there aren't many others around).
Using wolves as an example is completely irrelevant, since wolf hunting practises are different, wolves tend to live much further apart and so have a lower population density anyway... And on top of that, wolves do not behave in the same manner with regard to "naturally" producing more offspring in low population areas.
When your native species are at severe risk and you actually care about them, money is no object.
At least learn about a subject before you rant about it.
And as I listed earlier, I've been studying foxes - especially red foxes - for 17 years now. Yes, I've grown somewhat attached to them over the years (I've handled four). But I realistically know what they're like better than most as a result. I've also learned the one most important thing about them, which anyone who does get really close to them does:-
Never, ever, underestimate them.
The "vaccine" option is the only realistic way of removing foxes from Australia, and could do so within four or five years of it being released. (Still got to worry about the alien rodents at the same time, though!) Hunting could not possibly hope to achieve that. Even with an 80% elimination rate, it would still take decades to reduce the population - and the consequences to the native wildlife would be catastrauphic.
regardless of that this is an amazing piece of artwork. The detail is excellent and flawless.
That much is most certainly evident, I just wish you'd check your facts beforehand
and apparently you do because you replied. lol.
If these critters are really only reducing populations by 1/10th I'd say we're in pretty good shape.
But eh. Everyone seems to like to misuse the word 'decimate'. (To reduce by 1/10th)
Don't get me wrong. I love Bloth's work. Ehe. I just get kinda tired of seeing people say 'decimate' when they really meant 'demolish' or 'destroy' or 'devestate' or something like that.. Decimation isn't exactly all that threatening of a term, especially when it comes to extincting species.. We've well over decimated the number of species on the planet in the past 15-20 years and many species are decimated every year that people would never really even give a second thought to.
Great work Blotch.
Eurasian Red Fox = An introduced species with hunting "strategies" and techniques totally alien to the fauna in Australia.
End result = A massacre.
Either way, the easiest and most economically reasonable way to decline a population is to kill them, unfortunately. It's a shame, but it has to be done.
I think if we were talking about rats or something a lot of people would be okay with the idea of extermination, but because foxes are so down right adorable its harder to think of them as a pest, which they are in Australia and people dont want to kill them.
The point I was trying to make is that hunting simply doesn't work. If it did, why haven't they tried it already - given that it's the simplest option?
The answer is they did - and just like the results here in Britain, it didn't work.
I accept that foxes need to be removed from Australia - but aside from the "vaccine" option, nothing else is viable. When it's ready and released, it could eradicate foxes within four or five years. My best estimates (using a detailed computer model) show that by hunting, some 80% of the population would need to be killed every year, which would still take 20-30 years to achieve the same thing - but there would be no numbats by then, either, and many of the other small marsupials would be gone.
In the end, it depends on what you want to do. To kill foxes, or to eradicate them completely. One will save the numbat and the other native animals of Australia, and one won't.
Anyway, I really reeeaaaallllyyyy dont like to argue, cause drama or fight. If you say you've been studying them for 17 years then you obviously have the knowledge and experience-although I dont get it...I wont fight against it. It just sucks trying to give a point (especially on the internet) and some people get cocky and trolly (Im not talking about you) and then other people jump on top of you like "HAHA YOU HAD A TYPO IM GOING TO POINT IT OUT CUZ THAT MAKES ME LOOK SMART!" DUR!"
well, I hope this problem gets resolved before they become too explosive in numbers, some people said reintroducing the dingo would be effective. Maybe that combined with an infertility vaccination would help control the loss of other native species.
Like you, I'm only trying to suggest a solution to a problem that should never have occurred in the first place! After all, they're European red foxes, and should never have been released onto Australian soil!
I think you're right, too: it's going to take a combination of factors. The infertilisation vaccine and the reintroduction of the dingo will be part of it. Then they've just got the other invasive species (mice, feral cats, etc.) to consider - although ideally, they'll deal with them at the same time...
No matter the circumstances: In the end it's the most adaptable species that survives.
Humans do catalyze this process, but in a way that is far from natural.
Here's another example: bioengineering. Nobody predicted that pollen from bioengineered corn would be harmful to monarch butterflies. It is, and because butterflies are big pollinators, this sets off numerous chain reactions (all with unfortunate consequences). http://www.cnn.com/NATURE/9905/20/b.....erfly.killers/
Delicate ecosystems are vulnerable to sudden changes. But as long as there is life, it will always adapt to such changes.
The destruction of an ecosystem is not the end of the world.
Species go extinct. Species have always gone extinct. That's natural.
Bringing back the dingo, as dingos find fox kits very tasty.
Australia is using this solution now, actually.
I'm not gonna make a big deal about this, but I find that to be wrong.
Besides, the topic at hand was the Australian red fox's destructive effects on the native prey population. The only way to curb that is to lower the fox population, to which it was merely a suggestion.
I don't like that x number of trophy hunts for lions are approved in African countries, but I understand why: revenues for those nations. I don't like that lions are poisoned when they get into cattle, but I understand why: people can't live to lose such resources, can't wait on the governments to react (usually with less than satisfactory compensation if at all), and so forth. It's cheap, efficient, and even uplifting to the farmer that the pest animal has been dealt with.
I don't like that prey animals will eat baby lions if they find 'em, but tough luck, that's just the way the world works. Tasty little lion cubs :D
Reds are all over America too, pushing out the native species... If I remember right they're pushing out the native grey foxes
that's why they blew up in numbers!
*laughs at her own joke*
Here in America, we have like.. a hundred of any one particular predatory species left on the entire continent. And all it took was a few million rednecks with guns trying to "keep them varmints away from thar chickens!"
I'm exaggerating, of course.. SOME of our predatory species aren't TECHNICALLY endangered at the moment, but they're all still scarce enough that I've never seen one that wasn't roadkill or in a zoo.
but yeah, you got some pretty hefty problems with tosme animals down there >.>
We have foxes that have kits in our back yard every year. They're adorable to watch.
Awesome work Blotch. ^^
A more likely candidate: Tasmanian devils. Tasmanian devils destroy foxes and their dens on site, and are the main reason they can't get a foothold in Tasmania. But with the facial tumor disease there killing most of them off, foxes are starting to appear. If the ferocious little devils were bred en masse and re-introduced to mainland Australia somehow, it could help quite a lot. If they can manage to get enough of them that is.
I wouldn't learn any statistics today :)
Thanks for the wonderful picture - well done and the education!
Just like we did with the tasmanian wolf. (and several others)
Of course if there are not enough natural predator we will be swarmed by rodents, natives or not.
Maybe it's better leave mother nature clean the mess by wiping the humans out of the planet. YAY!
I don't plan to live forever, do you?
kickass work blotch
Everywhere you look you will see a Starling.
They're like ants.
Jesus Christ, you should see how many are here.
I don't see very many Blue Jays or Cardinals anymore and it's probably because the Starlings boss them around and take their food.
Foxes? I don't eat foxes.
Omg.
Well.
At least I still don't have to kill any.
My neighbour's got like... 10+ cats and they catch the starlings.
I live in Australia and have loved foxes since I was very young. Even though I love them so much, and really enjoy seeing them, I wish they had never been brought here.
People here normally hate foxes with a passion because of them killing the wildlife, but I've always said that you can't blame the foxes, they didn't choose to come here.
It was the humans' fault for bringing the foxes in, and the rabbits to feed the foxes, which are now also a major problem in Australia.
Just a shame that every piece you upload with a message seems to bring out a lot of idiots from the community.
The problem there being that most people think the best way is killing them... And that doesn't work, they just breed more to "compensate". They can't be killed fast enough to control the population, so doing so is really just unwarranted cruelty.
Better ways are being developed, such as vaccines for mass-sterilisation.
Going from a heart attack after breeding too much is a much more foxy way to go, ne?
Maybe furries might get heart attacks from massive yiffing. Who knows? Well in a playful way, nothing deadly lol.
And lol @ americans trying to talk about australia like experts.
On another note.. OMA-NOM-NOM-NOM
Also, i believe they were recently introduced into Tasmania by ecoterrorists. The Tasmanian gov was taking a very aggressive front at removing them.
E.g the last of pure blood dingos are on Fraser island getting wiped out so people who know little about Australia can drink booze and act like clowns, And the government supports killing them off as ferals why refusing to acknowledge that study's show they are a native wolf.
Irwin family have been fighting smiler battles about crocodiles... Only if nature could take a world 'Class action' against human neglect.
I adore the lighting here, and the colors go very well with the theme.
Keep it up; and I'm trying to make my point in a short comment...seeing as how many you have to read! :)
~Saphire
Come to think of it, i've only ever seen an echidna twice until yesterday, found it while going for my run! I was sad i didnt have a camera with me>.> But meh... i still love foxys....
No but seriously, foxes don't deserve to die. I've seen foxes die in fur factories. My uncle works in them. Sometimes they beat the fox alive with sticks and electricute them up the...yeah. Painful memories that scarred me for life. I never spoke to my uncle or forgave him for doing such things.
The fox needs to be removed from Australia, and it is a better solution to let nature remove them than to go out with gas canisters and gassing vast areas.
Thanks for clearing it up for me :)
But yeah, invasive species are a real problem and it's kind of disgusting how little people think of it when they're fuzzy, while we've got so many people flipping out in Florida over invasive reptiles that aren't actually harming the ecosystem, just potentially outcompeting and replacing other reptiles that already fill their niche. I mean, not that that isn't bad in itself? But cats and cows cause more damage, and it doesn't just fix itself in their cases.
Get our own house in order before we can start dictating the populations of the other species.
After all, we do more damage to the Earth than the rest of the animal species combined, and our own numbers are continuing to spiral out of control.
Surely, then, it would have made more sense to make the second joker of this pack a human?
It has been suggested, than allowing dingoes to repopulate areas which they have now been excluded from, would aid in lowering densities of foxes and feral cats, which is a very intriguing thought.
In any case, you probably already know this, but beautiful piece. Really stunning. The numbat is illustrated to perfection.
Looks amazing, amazed I never watched you
Gawd those things are tasty though
oh, wait... aaai-a... i don't meant.... NO! *shot*
NIce piece btw.