Australia's Cactus Attack

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#Geography #Australia #Cactus
In the early 1900s, Australia was in the grips of a cactus epidemic. The prickly pear cactus was covering an area the size of the Great Britain, or the state of Oregon. Farms were strangled and other plants crushed beneath the weight of a sea of thorny cladodes.
Until the Cactoblastis cactorum moth, another introduced species, miraculously destroyed most of the cactus in less than a decade.
This is a fascinating story of introduced speceies, poison guns, and before-and-after photos!
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Credits
Almost all black and white/sepia photos are from the Album of Prickly Pear Photographs, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Australia.
These photos are out of copyright and available here:
hdl.handle.net/10462/eadarc/7410
A few photos are from the collection of Margaret Cameron and Cole family collection - used with permission (many thanks for help with researching and source material!)
In particular the photos of:
Prickly pear poison
Second colour photo of Cactoblastis in cactus
Man delivering cacti with horse and cart
Man and woman by Cactoblastis breeding enclosure
Farmers waiting for egg delivery
Cactoblastis Monument Chinchilla
Photo of Dalby memorial courtesy of John Huth (via Memorials Australia, used with permission)
Photo of Boonarga Hall - Queensland Heritage Register CCBY 3.0
Photos of tree pears and Wardian cases from The Progress of Biological Control of Prickly Pear In Australia, Dodd, 1929 (out of copyright)
First colour photo of Cactoblastis in cactus CSIRO CCBY 3.0
Cane toad image CSIRO CCBY 3.0
Below photos attributed to listed photographers, and sourced from Flickr:
Photo of very spiny prickly pear with fruits and yellow flower: NH53 CCBY 2.0
Photo of prickly pear fruits: Ken Bosma CCBY 2.0
Photo of crushed cochineal: Katja Schulz CCBY 2.0
Photo of cochineal on cactus: Mad Ball CCBY 2.0
Colour photo of prickly pear in Australia: John Tann CCBY 2.0
Sources
Lots of great info on the State Library of Queensland website - start here:
www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/green...
Alan Dodd sources from Commonwealth Prickly Pear Board available here:
nla.gov.au/nla.obj-52813806/v...
nla.gov.au/nla.obj-52813806/v...
More info on the spread:
apps.des.qld.gov.au/heritage-...
Nature article from 1926(!):
www.nature.com/articles/11762...
About how Cactoblastis sense Opuntia (using CO2 and other compounds):
academic.oup.com/chemse/artic...
www.jstor.org/stable/4220967?...
And more overview of the cactus in Australia:
www.jstor.org/stable/215199?s...
I'm on Twitter: / tickettoknow

Опубликовано:

21 июн 2020

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Комментарии : 624

@TicketToKnow 4 года назад

Thanks for watching and for all the nice comments!! Like my T-shirt? Get it here!: teespring.com/cactus-attack

@realkingxyro 4 года назад

well, at least Australia didn't have to use machine guns

@tallguy2882 4 года назад

Lol we lost them all to the emu ........ during the war we lost to them 😬

@72marshflower15 4 года назад

They don’t want lead poisoning like the US does 🤣🤣🤣

@lovingangel204 4 года назад

😂😂😂

@leapdrive 4 года назад

You may have to use machine gun this time for the increasingly overabundant CCP spies and bad businesses they bring. This is one cactus that’s thorns on your sides.

@72marshflower15 4 года назад

Can’t see the responses.. I don’t know why they’re being deleted. Would love to be able to counter bullshit, but I can’t if RU-vid won’t allow others to post responses to me that I can see..

@robertohvargas 4 года назад

In Mexico we call it "NOPALES". There in Australia could be a tremendous source of biomass, to fed cows or sheeps. The plant is entirely edible. Had a lot of sugars, and nutrients and can grow in the most hostile enviroments whit no water or man care. In México, we cut the taller part, or "leaf", cut the spikes of the leaf with a kinife, wash it, cut slots on it like a fork, roast it in a frying pan with salt, and serve with a big steak and fries. It is a little slimy, but the more you fry it, the less slimy becomes. Very delicious I can say. Vegetarian people eat it a lot even in snacks. Here it cost 50 cents (USD)/ kg.

@danielibarra3670 4 года назад

Estaba pensando en eso, pudieron haberlos usado para comercelos o para el ganado

@mildsoup8978 4 года назад

Candied Nopales are good, but I've never comes around to enjoying eating them just like that, despite having one on my forehead lol.

@mitorresc 4 года назад

Yes! Young nopales are delicious cooked with fresh onions, cilantro, beans and chilli peppers

@adelorenita6085 4 года назад

Pues sí, pero son tan ignorantes que no saben que se pueden comer.

@adelorenita6085 4 года назад

@@mildsoup8978 no seas ignorante, para eso se preparan antes, además de ignorante perezoso.

@crystalidx 4 года назад

It’s like when you lose your arms and a new person grows out of it.

@Roderlump02 4 года назад

And that person is you.

@richmcgee434 4 года назад

Yeah, I hate when that happens.

@josechiquito7754 4 года назад

All us Mexicans watching this 👁👄👁

@AlexisPheonix 4 года назад

Jose Chiquito we eat them

@Zodamay 4 года назад

Tan ricos los taquitos de nopales en salsa verde o a la mexicana 😋

@chrisgriffiths2533 4 года назад

Firstly there are Still Many Prickly Pear in that Region of Australia, Except the Farming/ Mining is more Intensive there now. The Real Prickly Pear Failure though was Very Poor Governance. Hence the Moth Control was a Distraction to the Real Problem and Different Problems occur after this. The Poor Governance was Not Fixed and other Equally serious Problems exist Today.

@J_Lag 4 года назад

I grew up eating them; their fruit, young cactus pads basically as a stir fry vegetable. Now they're drinkable in juices. Man, Australia missed out.

@AlexisPheonix 4 года назад

Coyotl ay 😋

@RaulFlores-vy7rz 4 года назад

Holly plant. (AKA. Nopal) Native to Mexico and on the Mexican flag! The whole thing is edible and the root is medicinal. This Cactus is a Mexican delicacy, usually eaten cooked and the fruit this eaten fresh, tastes just like dragon fruit (which is also native to Mexico)

@mildsoup8978 4 года назад

Never heard that last part b4, for what and how do you prep them?

@AuroraQ 4 года назад

Saltyyy Kush420 Nopales

@chainsaw_chio 4 года назад

you can also manufacture glue and paint with them (search for "pintura de nopal")

@RaulFlores-vy7rz 4 года назад

@@mildsoup8978 look up "nopal recipes"

@RaulFlores-vy7rz 4 года назад

@Saltyyy Kush420 "nopal" is the name

@Globalurb 4 года назад

Cactus pears are so delicious!

@sillysallyceli 4 года назад

💯 I used to eat them on the way home, lots of tongue pains lol but I got good at it you just need a rock- also anyone that eats my cactus salad is always shocked how good it is. I want cactus to be just as popular as green beans or asparagus lol 😂 too ambitious 🤷🏻‍♀️😂

@mohamedelhaddade6371 4 года назад

they are very delicious..I don't love to harvest them..so I just buy them

@niBBunn 4 года назад

It's the quenchiest!

@Alusnovalotus 4 года назад

Yesh

@yeahokbuddy2510 4 года назад

My farm here in Texas has native prickly pear cacti, I hate them cause they take up land that my goats can graze, plus they have hurt my guard dogs and goats so I have no choice to kill them. Their fruits taste so yummy though and the cactus patty (the green round bit) is also edible and supper yummy if ya cook it right.

@flamingcoop 4 года назад

Last time I was this early cane toads hadn’t be brought to Australia yet; because the government thought they’d be a great pest control measure *one ecological disaster later*.

@pancakes4552 4 года назад

BRING IN THE TOADS

@WadcaWymiaru 4 года назад

@@pancakes4552 Bring the French now...

@dakotagordon8756 4 года назад

All hail HYPNO TOAD!!!

@pyellard3013 3 года назад

Introducing new species is always highly dangerous.. We still don't know whether the moth introduced to Australia might later mutate to eat native plants..🙄

@a.m.v.6938 4 года назад

I’ve been trying to grow the same cactus in the foothills of the Sierra and am having a hell of a time. Deer and squirrels love to eat them and if they don’t get them damn gophers will eat them from underneath. 🤬

@72marshflower15 4 года назад

Then stop doing it..

@hypercomms2001 4 года назад

@@72marshflower15 I recently did a Google search on "gophers", and I was amazed how much "love" gophers get...man I was impressed how much you guys really "love" your gophers... www.google.com/search?q=gophers&rlz=1C5CHFA_enAU882AU882&oq=gophers&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j46j0l3j69i60j69i61l2.9059j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

@Alusnovalotus 4 года назад

Try small patches in different areas. Odd since the Sierra madre is a second home for them.

@aggieami13 4 года назад

That shows their high intelligence! Maybe the animals are telling us something.

@ejohnson3131 4 года назад

alus nova - I think he's talking about the Sierra Nevada in California where it's much colder.

@somethingsomthing2456 4 года назад

Thanks TTK, i never heard about this before good job on giving information on less known topics and history with citation too !

@adelarsen9776 4 года назад

The first death of a prickly pear plant from Cacto blastus was September 1926 at the control station in Chinchilla.

@ridgoro 4 года назад

In mexico we eat it, and there is also a company that is turning cactus into leather.

@tdb7992 4 года назад

If only you knew how expensive Mexican food is here in Australia. People love it, it's so exotic to us. But it's super expensive. The thought of actually eating cactus is totally foreign to us.

@rayalnaturel7394 4 года назад

It became a problem because Australians didn't know of its many uses, a source of food, ecological paint, color for fibers(cochinilla), parcel borders, etc. In Mexico Many different species of cacti are an important part of the food and medicine industries!

@jinchey 4 года назад

It had no natural predators in Australia. Anyway, it was imported originally because of its uses.

@XoroksComment 4 года назад

No, it became a problem because the plant was invasive. They don't occur in such quantities and density in their native habitat. Monocultures are typical for invasive plants and pose a threat to biodiversity and the ecosystem. In their native habitat "invasive" species are part of an ecosystem that has evolved over millions of years, which has resulted in a balance between all inhabitants. If x amount of seedlings die due to a fungal disease and x amount of them get eaten by animals, the plants are naturally selected to get spikey, produce bitter chemicals and more seeds so that a few will make it. If you take such robust plants to an environment where nothing eats or damages them, they unfold their full potential and overgrow everything else.

@danielbruno1718 4 года назад

@@XoroksComment, kudas, you explained it all so well. Lack of knowledge make people usually see things in such simplistic ways and that's what leads to approaches like thinking Australians could have got ridden of these species by simply eating them and using them for whatever.

@madcatlover7554 4 года назад

Ray Al Naturel it became an environmental disaster, whether it could be used or not it doesn’t matter if it’s destroying the native ecosystems

@JoelReid 4 года назад

Dung beetle. The most successful introduction of a species in australia

@pyellard3013 3 года назад

Do u have a link?

@juans6639 4 года назад

That's what happens when you mess with Mother Nature. NEVER FAILS!

@umaryusuf537 4 года назад

That’s a tortoise heaven

@lailaraden9461 4 года назад

I'm thinking the same 😂

@1RandomMiss 2 года назад

I don’t understand why Australians didn’t take advantage of a plant that destroys histamine, has delicious fruit full of vitamins, is a staple food in other countries and it has perfect growing conditions. I can’t get enough of it. The pads are great in salads, bbq, with burritos and nachos, in sauces and raw. I love doing my bit for conservation and foraging for prickly pear.

@krissp8712 4 года назад

Tumbleweeds 2, electric boogaloo ? Also zombie cactus pads, not even clippings stuck in the ground, but just left there? That's scary. :(

@Fists91 4 года назад

definitely not as good as the original, prickly pear would have significantly reduced the flammability of the country side rather than turning it into a death inferno

@FarmerTed 4 года назад

99 out of 100 ecological control relocation turns out terribly! Many disasters have occurred this way!

@hatuxka 4 года назад

Name some.

@FarmerTed 4 года назад

eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2018/05/top-10-invasive-species-when-pest-control-goes-wrong/ Use the internet! There are thousands! Cats introduced around the world are on of the worst, but hey if your to dumb to look it up I’m sorry your so lazy! Here the trouble is multiflower rose, Asian ladybugs and kudzu!

@australianwildlifechannel4795 4 года назад

And cane toads.

@hatuxka 4 года назад

Farmer Ted you’ve mixed commerce as the means or motivation for introductions with pre-scientific attempts at pest control using animals.

@mikehunt8375 4 года назад

I know. I was waiting for the moths to kill everything then they would have to bring in spiders or some shit.

@faridzamorano7617 4 года назад

They didn't had to bring a moth from Mexico, they had to bring a mexican who knew how to cook em.

@ameliaandes797 4 года назад

We called the fruit: tuna. The tunas grows well in the Andes mountains..so delicious.😁

@sallya422 4 года назад

Thanks so much for your time and efforts in making this great clip!

@mariateresamaurin805 4 года назад

Woow, in México this Opuntia cactus(nopales) is our national treasure...🤔

@J_L45 4 года назад

Every introduced species of fauna and flora have decimated our native environment!!!!!! We should not have ANY Hooved creatures in this country ..... at all. One day; NON-NATIVES will innerstand. ( the HARD way )

@hamsterama 4 года назад

All the best cacti seem to come from Mexico! Here in the US, a lot of cactus species native to Mexico are sold as houseplants. I have a couple different opuntia species. I also have a lot of little cacti of various species. I leave them outside as much as possible, but I have to take them inside my house when temperatures get below freezing. I live in Ohio. In Ohio, there's no chance of any cactus becoming invasive, because they can't survive our winters.

@geoffbreen2386 4 года назад

@@hamsterama You may be surprised how diverse Cacti are. There are species in Patagonia and the high Andes. Not sure if they could survive outside where you live. But they are probably best left where they grow naturally. Mexico does have incredible diversity in Cacti. Some of the smallest to some of the largest and some of the most popular for people to grow at home.

@veganmikedizzle4303 4 года назад

So much a national treasure it's in the Mexican flag.

@hamsterama 4 года назад

@@geoffbreen2386 I recently got some books from library about cacti. I'll have to flip through them and see if any species from the Andes are available for sale in the US. But yes, you're right, many species are best left alone. Not all plants can be "domesticated" and live outside their native environments. I really love the small cacti species native to Mexico. In the winter, when I have to bring them inside, they easily fit on a windowsill. Also, the small species, from my experience, don't embed itchy and painful glochids into your skin when you touch them.

@GeographyWorld 4 года назад

Forget the emu war when there's the cactus war!

@AngelicArtt 4 года назад

Wow, this is amazing! Great video and so well done!! Keep up the good work!!

@andrewjvaughan 4 года назад

Wait... it’s name was cacto-blastus? Did that come before or after it blasted away the cactus?

@geoffbreen2386 4 года назад

The scientific name was given to them when formally described by scientists. That name stays with the insect wherever it may be spread. The scientific name was in place well before they were considered as a biological control to be imported into Australia.

@echowit 4 года назад

@@geoffbreen2386 You're right of course, but, Damn, it does sound like a really cool cartoon villian doesn't it?

@philceballos2991 4 года назад

Hey they are great to eat ,just take the spines off and boil

@jinchey 4 года назад

You've done it. You've solved the entirety of Australia's prickly pear problem. Just eat them!

@philceballos2991 4 года назад

jinch why not Australia should start exporting them to Mexico or other countries

@trcs3079 4 года назад

@@philceballos2991 because mass cultivation would cause more ecological damage as the prickly pear will overgrown native flora.

@philceballos2991 4 года назад

Steven Nguyen I’m not saying keep planting it just use what’s there

@arnulfoalvarez1743 4 года назад

mroldnewbie if you are talking about the fruit that grows on top who grow in different colors, yes you eat the seeds.

@ianball8555 4 года назад

Love your videos! So well researched, thorough and well spoken :)

@joannekucks4343 4 года назад

I am surprised they didn’t use the prickly pear casts as a fruit and vegetable crop.

@breakingbud2530 3 года назад

Interesting mate had some land near Kingaroy heaps of prickly pear and something was killing it good video

@joshandlarsa6228 3 года назад

Love your channel. Nice to see Australians making quality youtube!

@cactusland88 4 месяца назад

Great video! Very informative! I've always loved cacti and succulents, but this is an eye opener.

@tedsowards 4 года назад

I really enjoyed this video. You gained a subscriber. I lived in Victoria for a couple of years and videos like this help me feel connected and educated.

@wilfredpadilla6685 4 года назад

Nice informative video mate!

@reality8763 4 года назад

Best outro! "I hope at least you enjoyed it, at most learnt something" You have my sub!

@guillermocruz2440 3 года назад

You have earned a new Sub. Great content!

@mattwales2734 4 года назад

I live in New Mexico, and one of the prickly pears in my yard, has that fungus which creates that dye.

@ladycrystalr-u.s.a 4 года назад

They are a hellish nightmare when stepped on bare foot.

@hectorcardenas2171 4 года назад

That happened to you?! haha!

@leticiavillafranco6347 3 года назад

In Mexico they are now growing cactus to feed livestock and not have to buy feed. Now it is said that to be a cattle rancher you have to be a farmer as well. Great video!

@Alan_Mac 4 года назад

That was top notch, mate. Thanks.

@DavidHargis 4 года назад

Amazing info. Thank you

@melo39987 4 года назад

Wow, the cactus is actually medicinal and a culinary delicacy!

@Blashko 4 года назад

A very cool story and an interesting video! Keep them coming!! :)

@philpique3187 4 года назад

Very interesting video! I just signed up as a new subscriber. Thanks for posting!

@MarioRafaelM 4 года назад

Im glad I found your channel greetings from El Salvador I do have cactus in backyard

@josechiquito7754 4 года назад

Y’all should have just ate the cactus 😋

@einfelder8262 4 года назад

Problem was, at the time, every person in Australia would have had to eat 25 cactus plants per day. Not very appetising, when there was plenty of fresh meat readily available

@jerryvelasco1474 4 года назад

@@einfelder8262 That's not really a problem either, Australia at the time was a cattle country a farming industry. They could of just feed the cactus to the cattle or pigs. 25 plants a day would not be a problem for cattle, I'm just surprised the Australians never thought to do that. Yes they would have to prepare it, takeing the needles off, but there was already needless cactus aka Nopales. Maybe it was because Mexico had hundreds of years to find uses and that information wasn't shared with Australians.

@missbrowny2994 4 года назад

Jerry Velasco did it video say that when animals eat the fruits then poop it out they then produce more cactus plants?

@jeremygilmore3208 4 года назад

@@missbrowny2994 Eating the fruit doesn't kill the plant... they are talking about eating the actual cladodes. De-thorning them for consumption is not sustainable at this scale though.

@meta.aesthetica 3 года назад

Nice video bro!

@jasonscott7803 4 года назад

Very informative and extremely well done.

@lewisdoherty7621 4 года назад

There is a town in Mississippi or Alabama which has a monument to the Boll Wevil. It destroyed the cotton crops. Farmers had to find another crop and began growing soybeans. They discovered that they made a lot more money from soybeans and the Boll Weevil was the best thing which happened to them.

@michaelnolan4780 3 года назад

Wow great video! I live in Arizona and we view them so differently here but I totally understand why this was a major concern for the outback! Thanks for sharing!

@MrTOOM1971 3 года назад

thank you for great information.

4 года назад

Scary. Here in the drylands of Brazil the opuntia cacti are a very important survival food for our herds. If this moth gets here it would be an economic disaster.

4 года назад

Thanks mate.. excellent history lesson.

@chialara5302 4 года назад

Very cool info thanks, I had no idea!

@mikenealon4042 4 года назад

whew! australia averts another prickly situation.

@brookxdfvfftafese3757 3 года назад

Wow useful information thanks for sharing

@vagabondrob888 4 года назад

Thank you. Great vid. I enjoyed that and learnt something new. Cheers

@mimigreenmelbourne3264 3 года назад

I really enjoyed your channel.

@itsNNAU 3 года назад

Such a cool channel! 🌵🌵

@jorgecanales798 2 года назад

As a Mexican/Tejano I'm watching this thinking "instead of struggling to get rid of them, y'all could've controlled the 'attack' or the "invasion" by using it as a food source both humans and livestock. You could just burnt the spines and feed it to the livestock" btw. I hope one day all my cacti get as big as the images you showed

@BradGryphonn 4 года назад

We were taught about cactoblastis in primary school in the 60s

@mariao.5142 4 года назад

I would like to have that plant in a controlled garden... 😍🌵❤👍

@RoughTomatoHolden 4 года назад

Really enjoyed this video. Cactus is one of my favorite plant in the world and I never thought that this once caused harm and inconvenience to others. Continue sharing informative contents like this. 🤗🍅

@peacefulscrimp5183 4 года назад

Great video 👍 you have a new subscriber

@laurenentwistle1207 Год назад

Great video! Thank you! Helped with our homeschool lesson.

@camillenoter5061 4 года назад

I so appreciate watching this video, I lived in Dalby as a child, thank you for this awesome piece of information 🤗😁

@halo2d 4 года назад

That was really interesting thanks 😊

@jscorpio1987 4 года назад

Leave it to Australia to declare war on a plant. 😂 😂 😂

@SomeRandomGuy-us1yb 4 года назад

The failure of the War on Emus is fake news

@MaikelRonnau 4 года назад

This is very cool!

@adriankrause7331 4 года назад

Thank you - more please.

@alaaaliahmed3893 4 года назад

Nice video thanks

@omaralkayal7598 3 года назад

Please make more videos I love your channel

@qualqui 4 года назад

Yeah, heard about the Prickly Pear attacking the native grasslands and forests of Australia and that a parasite was found and that quickly righted the wrong of introducing the prickly pear where none had originally grown, but I thought it was imported from Mexico and South America, from the Carribbean? Anyways ya all should farm the Prickly Pear like farmers in North-Central Mexico do, harvesting the pads, obviously cutting the spines off first and harvesting the nochtli(fruit), I know you guys have a different culture, but that's one thing us humans are great at, adapting ourselves to our local ecosystem. Uprated and thanking for sharing this informative and interesting video, greetings from Central Mexico! :)

@maddyg3208 4 года назад

Thanks, I'm Australian and have prickly pear in my backyard. I will have to try the fruit

@geoffbreen2386 4 года назад

Yes your local ecosystem includes cacti naturally. None are native to Australia. They were considered as of no use and a weed, an unwanted plant. If you look closely at a lot of photos and multiply that effect over massive areas you see that its not just a few fruit and edible pads. Its a takeover of farmland here and Australians had no history or interest in these out of control plants as food in any way. They wanted them gone.

@sebastianszefer4106 4 года назад

And that’s why I more prefer RU-vid than public Tv. I can learn something new whenever I want. Great Content btw. You’ve got my sub

@islooboyrashid5927 4 года назад

Such an underrated channel this is

@keijuhl 4 года назад

Opuntia grows wild in Georgia in the USA. I've seen a lot of patches of them around Stone Mountain.

@perentee77 9 месяцев назад

Nice work.. well researched. Would love to see you do a video on Australia didn't have native cacti.

@Ariyanasir 4 года назад

great video

@lm5050 4 года назад

that's some good infotainment +1 sub

@robh3895 4 года назад

if you want to see HUGE numbers of HUGE examples these cacti drive along the Gore highway in southern Queensland, it's astonishing.

@Shrouded_reaper 4 года назад

Yep I live along that highway and have loads of big ones at the back of my block.

@chodemonsters7140 4 года назад

Eat the pads🤷‍♂️ their delicious, boil them with bit of salt and onion drain in colander and enjoy with beans tortillas or in a burrito

@andrewhdz 2 года назад

I would be really blessed if my own prickly pear plants would be as big as the Australian ones. "Nopal/Opuntia" plant is an amazing source of food for humans (salads w/tomatoes, mexican lime and coriander, meat/chicken/pork tacos with nopales, nopal dishes, even nopal snacks, refreshing water, jams, beer, etc.) and cattle (even with spines or burning the spines in some cases), a wonderful source of biomass (able for ethanol production, eco-friendly soaps) a nitrifying bacterias plant producer (biofertilizer production in their roots) and excellent allied for soil water retention (as the agave plant). Basically, a superfood. Is ideal for weigth-loss and low carbs diets, and usually used for treat high-cholesterol, diabetes disease, obesity and it is high in fiber, antioxidants and carotenoids. It's one of most underrated plants, but it's understandable how delicate are the isolated ecosystems as the Australian and need rigurous scientific studies for controlled-growing. I hope nopal would help another countries with climate/food/industrial challenges (as North and Central African regions, Central Asia and Middle East, all regions who need to fight against desertification, hydric soil stress and food shortages) Greetings from Mexico

@terrellroederer 4 года назад

Amazing!

@unstoppableExodia 4 года назад

It's a shame we don't yet have an equivalent that can target cain toads while leaving native frogs alone

@monagustin6515 3 года назад

That's amazing!

@ejohnson3131 4 года назад

So they caused a problem and introduced bigger problems using pesticides and moths... Prickly pears are delicious. Tender cactus shoots are good for breakfast diced, sautéed and mixed in with scrambled eggs, tomatoes and onions. You can also make a salad with onions, tomatoes, olive oil, cilantro and avocado.

@grued1374 4 года назад

Great video. Miles QLD also has a memorial about the cactus in the historical village

@TheBrittMarie 4 года назад

Wow this is so cool!!!

@lawrencewillard6370 4 года назад

Saw about 300 acres of them in the early 50s. Loved the fruit, but couldn't walk through the area. Years later, area was arable again. Only A few plants seen, not vast areas as before.

@opabinnier 4 года назад

Well presented, chum.

@katgrey6239 2 года назад

Very interesting 👌

@Liphted 4 года назад

Pretty good vid!!!

@Yelrebmikkim 4 года назад

Would use in the classroom. Great video!

@danielbruno1718 4 года назад

It's impressive to see how many people in the comments think that a simple solution is that "they should have just eaten the cacti". It is not that simple and I'll try to contribute with some info that I can provide. I live in the Northeast of Brazil, where I grow different plants of the Opuntioideae subfamily (Opuntia is just one genus of those). Besides growing them as food for cattle, I'm a cactus collector/enthusiast and have contributed with biologists and researchers of these plants. We call the plants that belong to the Opuntioideae subfamily as Opuntiads, and there are hundreds of species and subspecies, plus variations of Opuntiads (many of them result from decades of artificial selections and crossbreeding). So, yes, some people (especially in Mexico) eat some specific parts of a selected number of species that are part of this subfamily. But...This does not mean every species is edible, or that the whole plants are edible, or that everybody would enjoy eating them, or that people would even be able to eat the plants faster than they grow, even if people would eat that all day long. Some Opuntiads that have been a pest in Australia can be found quite often where I live too, and believe me, this are mostly not the species you would want to make Nopalitos (name such plants get as a human food) from. Many of them have numerous, aggressive thorns that you won't be able to get rid of that easily. Some of them we have tried even throwing in campfires, and after all lumber is burned, the cactus pads are still there with their thorns, the pads just shrink some. Also, when growing out of their natural habitats, where such cacti face natural predators that limit their growth, such plants can grow at a tremendously fast pace and proliferate and dominate big areas in very short periods of time. After a plant establishes itself, sometimes you can cut all pads off, and still new ones will emerge from whatever is left of the stem in just a few days. These plants are incredibly resilient and can grow quite fast when in a suitable environment. New pads emerge not only from the pads that fall, but also from even the fruits that fall. Yes, it is that crazy, a fruit that is left on the ground will develop roots and become a new plant (clone of the mother plant, in this case). Anyways, I hope more people can understand that it is too simplistic to see things that way and say that this wouldn't have been a problem if people knew they could have eaten the plants.

@DBrunoAraujo 4 года назад

Also there was more than one species being a pest in Australia

@tinamarieussery3063 3 года назад

Very interesting i will watch you again

@howardkerr8174 4 года назад

Here in Florida there are similar situations but thankfully not yet quite as bad (in most places) as this cactus. Like Australia, our problem started when people imported vegetation from other parts of the world. First species? Bamboo. Not easily killed so removing from your property or even pruning it back is neigh on to impossible. Next is kudzu, a vine that grows anywhere and everywhere. Camphor trees are another. The leaves smell like medicine and the trees send new growth everywhere in a quest for water and light. I had 3 or 4 at the corners of my small urban lot but in their need to get light for new leaves the trees sent branches over the top of my house in a cantilevered fashion. I lived in fear of all three trees during hurricane season. Then there is water hyacinths that are chocking ponds and rivers

@petercrichton5545 Год назад

Excellent video 10/10. About 20 years ago I was a forester in the Pilliga Forest in NSW. This video was really interesting for me and I watched it with my children as we are studying biological control as part of our homeschooling. Thank you very much!

@JoseGarcia-uo5qz 4 года назад

Don't they know in Australia that prickly pear cactus pads are edible. And good for humans and cattle alike?

@islami658 4 года назад

Prickly pear can solve world hunger

@XoroksComment 4 года назад

Good luck having prickly pear for breakfast, lunch and dinner

@nicoleh.9898 4 года назад

Fascinating. I'm in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona. The Prickly Pear is not hardy because of the odd mold found here, they can not combat and get sick easily but those of us that grow healthy ones make Prickly Pear jam.