“A destructive species of ant is spreading through Germany faster than expected, with scientists warning that the proliferation of insects may be unstoppable,” reports The Times:
The discovery of the Tapinoma magnum ant started with innocuous-seeming plants at garden centers in Coswig and Dresden, in the far east of the country. But when the biologist Bernhard Seifert peered into the soil, he found traces of what is now considered one of Germany’s most destructive invasive species.
The tiny species, measuring barely 4mm, was once confined largely to the warmer climates of the Mediterranean area…Lately, it has been settling in Germany’s southwest and Rhineland areas. The insects first wreaked havoc in places such as Kehl, near the French border. The city reported damage to public infrastructure, and cuts to power and the internet, caused by the ants.
Seifert’s discovery suggests that the species is spreading rapidly throughout Germany…Reports of the ants come from new places every week…The ants penetrate cavities in buildings and infiltrate electrical boxes, using cables to move into the spaces, which caused the power cuts in Kehl. In Karlsruhe, the city’s suburban railway is struggling with loose pavements near the platforms, undermined by ant colonies.
In Marlen, a suburb of Kehl, a children’s playground had to be closed after the ground began to buckle under the sheer number of ants tunnelling beneath it. There is also a psychological cost as the animals settle in private gardens, where they leave bite marks on their hosts’ limbs, invade their homes and lead to a proliferation of plant lice, whose manure serves as nutrition for the ants.
“Some people don’t even dare to go on holiday any more as they fear that the ants will move into their home in their absence.”…Biologists warn that the species’ spread may be unstoppable in their new habitat, lacking the natural enemies of their previous environments.
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Cape vulture populations are growing in South Africa.
Scientists have created a woolly mouse on their way to recreating the extinct woolly mammoth.
Genetically-modified pigs now provide pork and bacon that people who are allergic to pork can eat.
A genetically-modified chicken lays eggs that people allergic to eggs can eat. Scientists have genetically engineered a cow that produces human insulin in its milk.
