Name: Cats Might Be One of the Most Invasive Species
Uploaded: undefined
Duration: undefined

NOVA

Non-native species, like cats and honeybees, can either become naturalized, as a part of the ecosystem, or invasive and disrupt the ecosystem.

Cats are responsible for hundreds of millions, if not billions of birds being eaten every

Cats Might Be One of the Most Invasive Species

Carlisle Companies

Viking

NOVA Science Trust Logo

Non-native species, like cats and honeybees, can either become naturalized, as a part of the ecosystem, or invasive and disrupt the ecosystem.

Cats are responsible for hundreds of millions, if not billions of birds being eaten every year.

Cats are responsible for hundreds of millions, if not billions of birds being eaten every year.

Nature

Cats Might Be One of the Most Invasive SpeciesPublished November 16, 2022 DANNI WASHINGTON: So, invasive giant hornets are a problem, because they could potentially wipe out honeybees and impact America’s food supply. We still don’t know if they can be eradicated in North America, but the clock is ticking, driving scientists and locals to take action, because we not only love, but depend on, the native honeybee.FRANK MAZZOTTI: The honeybee is non-native.DANNI WASHINGTON: Wait, what?FRANK MAZZOTTI: Well, in some of these species, that gets to another end of a definition. Some non-native species become naturalized, and that is, that’s kind of the opposite of invasive. And that is, they become part of the ecosystem that they’ve been introduced to and fit into the ecosystem. And so, there are naturalized non-native species as well as invasive non-native species.DANNI WASHINGTON: Okay, so let’s get this straight. Non-native species are the ones that have moved into new ecosystems. And, like Frank says, such species can become either naturalized, as a part of the ecosystem, or invasive and disrupt the ecosystem. But species have been moving around the world for millions of years. So, does that mean every plant and animal could have been considered “non-native” and potentially “invasive” at some point in Earth’s history? Could North America’s beloved honeybees have been, for a time, invasive and outcompeting native pollinators? What else?FRANK MAZZOTTI: Cats.DANNI WASHINGTON: You’re killing me, Frank.FRANK MAZZOTTI: Cats eat birds, eat small mammals, eat reptiles and are responsible for hundreds of millions, if not billions of birds being eaten every year. Cats are one of the most invasive species. Cats get a pass because people do like them.SHARLENE SANTANA: They shouldn’t get a pass. Going to anger all the cat people. It’s okay, I’m a dog person. I own it.

United States

Northern Mariana Islands

Puerto Rico

American Samoa

Guam

U.S. Virgin Islands

U.S. Minor Outlying Islands

US & Territories

Colossal explosions shake a remote corner of the Siberian tundra, leaving behind massive craters. In Alaska, a huge lake erupts with bubbles of inflammable gas. Scientists are discovering that these mystifying phenomena add up to a ticking time bomb, as long-frozen permafrost melts and releases vast amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. What are the implications of these dramatic developments in the Arctic? Scientists and local communities alike are struggling to grasp the scale of the methane threat and what it means for our climate future. (Premiered February 2, 2022)

In the Arctic, enormous releases of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, threaten the climate.

Arctic Sinkholes

The top half of Jupiter in blue and green against a night sky

A composite image of Jupiter using images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Jupiter ERS Team; image processing by Judy Schmidt.

Explore the cosmos, delve into ancient history, and follow an extreme rescue with NOVA’s most-watched documentaries released in 2022.

NOVA’s most popular science documentaries of 2022

Four bright orange loops brand off of a dark blue blob

A transmission electron micrograph of HIV-1 virus particles (orange) replicating from the plasma membrane of an infected H9 T cell. Credit: NIAID, Flickr

Scientists have cured a handful of people of HIV by piggybacking on treatments they received for blood cancer. But does that bring a widespread cure any closer?

Cats Might Be One of the Most Invasive Species

Support Provided By

Explore More

Divers Hunt Venomous Fish Invading Our Oceans

What to do with an invasive fish? Make leather

Ocean Invaders

Predators drove a lizard population to extinction without eating them

Transcript

Credits