Agreed! 
It’s easy for us to tut-tut, and to wring our hands about all the species that humans spread around the world:
- Pigs and rats, as humans spread around the South Pacific
- British folks trying to recreate British fauna during the reign of the British Empire (in Australia, and in other places)
- Etc.
But I think the 100+ replies above show that there are shades of gray . . .
SoFla (South Florida, in the USA) is one of the most interesting places in the world for introduced (and sometimes invasive) species, due to a combination of factors:
- A relatively rich population that can afford pets from around the world
- A large population centre, which creates a high demand for non-native plants and animals
- A subtropical climate that allows many escapees to survive
- A climate that is prone to hurricanes, which can allow captive animals to escape their pens, and can also “spread things around”
- A shipping hub that receives cargo shipments from around the world, which may be “contaminated” with non-native plants and animals
You can read about some of the non-native organisms found in Florida here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_invasive_species_in_Florida
Do you have any favourites on that list? 
1 Like
A relevant post I made on a similarly interesting thread:
If an organism is a non-native invasive it should always be removed humanely from the environment. The controversy should not be what to do with an identified invasive species, but what constitutes an invasive species. It’s the opinion of some scientists that while non-native species add extra strain to the environment, they balance themselves out by participating in the environment (they both consume more energy, but add more energy). This is almost certainly the case in my area of SFL, where the urban environment can no longer sustain native species, but can support adaptable exotic (but not invasive) species. And often exotic species occupy new niches and don’t compete with native species, an example being anole species in FL. The four widespread species (green, brown, bark, and knight anoles) occupy completely different niches (twig dweller, terrestrial, trunk dweller, canopy giant respectively), and apparently seem to coexist. The python issue is more complicated however. Their primary range is some of the last remaining true wilderness in Florida (the Everglades and Big Cypress), rather than an already degraded environment. Are they simply an exotic, or a destructive invasive? The evidence seems to point to pythons having a serious negative impact on native small mammal populations, and thus they should be humanely removed, but that is far from settled. Regardless they are one of the most beautiful and impressive animals I’ve had the privilege of observing in the wild.
In conclusion, if an animal is not sustainable in the environment it needs to be removed. But as humans themselves are part of the environment, we can affect our environment by introducing exotics, which can sometimes improve rather than degrade the environment. So we need to scientifically discern whether an exotic is beneficial or harmful (invasive) to the environment before removing it.
1 Like
Is this Hemidactylus turcicus in the US?
With the popularity of Lepidodactylus lugubris as a pet, and it’s parthenogenic nature, it seems like it ought to be a big problem. It is already widespread, but perhaps it’s so small that it doesn’t compete with the adults of native species?
If they were not too damaging, I could imagine worse things than a cute little gecko brightening my day : )
2 Likes
There are several Hemidactylus in the US. House geckos are probably similar to Brahminy Blind Snakes Indotyphlops braminus, which are parthenogenetic and spread easily, but fill a niche not occupied by native species and because they are so small likely don’t pose any threat to native wildlife. In fact many of the invertebrates geckos (and blind snakes) are eating are probably non-native, since they mostly use urban and suburban habitats. Interestingly, the different introduced species of house geckos do compete with each other; in FL H. mabouia has mostly displaced turcicus and garnotii, which were formerly the dominant species. Lepidodactylus lugubris might be more destructive since I think most of it’s introduced range already have plenty of native geckos, but then again tropical areas (obviously excluding isolated islands) might be more able to sustain a new species without negative effect. Even if a non-native organism consumes more energy from the environment than is natural, it will also input more energy, and potentially will have either no impact or a positive impact, so it’s possible that this is the case with Lepidodactylus lugubris, especially since it’s a small species.
2 Likes
Large yellow underwings are definitely my favorite invasive species in North America. They’re such cool moths!
2 Likes
I love starlings, they have such pretty feathers
5 Likes
My favourites are monk parakeets. Parakeets are always fun and these build their own nests and so do not compete with other species for tree holes. If you see large screeching groups flying around, you can also see that you should never have a (single) parakeet as pet.
3 Likes
Joro spider :)
3 Likes
Love your profile picture!
4 Likes
Just an old drawing I made :)
3 Likes
I don’t know if it’s still there, but there was a big population of Monk Parakeets in Edgewater, NJ… some of the local businesses made it a kind of tourist attraction. For example, you could get a slice of pizza and watch them at the window while you ate. This was directly at odds with other businesses… like the local bank whose sign became a major nest… who tried to get rid of them.
2 Likes
In North America there are a lot of plants that flower in autumn, or that is the sensation that it give me when I visited New York and East Canada. Here were I live in Spain there are almost none (not sure why), and the ones that do usually bloom at the end of the summer/ first days of autumn, usually in the last days of August and first days of September. That is why I love so much plants like Helianthus tuberosus, Tagetes minuta, Dahlia etc that bring so much color in this season (specially when the leaves are not changing colors still). Also they even bring a refuge to pollinators, and usually are not that invasive in the first place.
3 Likes
This one’s my answer too even if it’s not that bad in Great Britain (yet?). Very pretty leaves, very pretty flowers that smell lovely, gorgeous bark. There’s a reason they were planted so much.
For animals, rose-ringed parakeets - very abundant around London. It’s disputed whether they’re genuinely invasive or if they’ve slotted into a niche and doesn’t harm anything else. Another upside they have - birds of prey like sparrowhawks and peregrines love the taste of them and their populations are doing fairly well nowadays. But they’re bright green! And noisy!
1 Like
But the native gecko populations drop as much as I love Asian House Geckos because they keep the spider population down in my house, I think our native dtellas are cuter.
I make it very well known, both online and in real life, that I love every bird in the Genus Passer, so House and Eurasian Tree Sparrows for me. I always gleefully point out House Sparrow whenever I go out anywhere with other people. As for Eurasian Tree Sparrows, well… I travelled all the way to St. Louis, Missouri to see 'em. Tied favorite bird alongside the Black-capped Chickadee.
I also can’t help but love the silly noises Starlings make. Got to watch a small family of Starlings over the course of the summer, likely from the moment a pair bred, and hearing the two parents occasionally make weird noises as they perched near the nest was always a delight.
2 Likes
I wouldn’t say that I “love” Chinese privet; it’s more like Chinese privet is a charmer. I know that it is a harmful invasive; but when I see it covered with fruits in the fall, some deeper instinct feels that sense of comfort that comes from being in the presence of abundance.
To explain, there is an area I know, hidden from the greenways. I have found evidence of former structures there, suggesting that it may once have been a developed area. Unlike the native oak-hickory-pine woodlands and baldcypress-tupelo swamps along the main greenway, this area is almost all invasives – there are emergent sugarberry trees, but below these, the main canopy is Bradford pear and chinaberry. I find big flocks of robins in there – more robins than in the native vegetation, and they linger for long periods of time. I understand the robins’ thoughts and feelings: abundance is alluring, even if it isn’t a wholesome abundance.
2 Likes
For context, North America.
Mute Swans are beautiful and elegant, and certainly exemplary parents.
Water hyacinths (Eichhornia crassipes) are beautiful, but invasive in tropical locations they were brought to.
Spotted knapweed (Centaurea stoebe) is so pretty, as is Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus carota). The latter is a pollinator favorite so it’s hard to be mad at it, except that it can crowd out the native plants. Oh, and Canada Thistle Cirsium arvense another pretty one.
2 Likes
Asian swamp eels. Their pretty cool
2 Likes