Should camels be considered invasive?Ī prominent proponent of this view is Ken Thompson, who wrote a book titled “Where do camels belong: why invasive species aren’t all bad.” The title character of Thompson’s book is the camel. But the New York Times article reports on the other side of the invasion coin: that some “invasive” species are fine-sometimes even good-and that negative reactions to their spread could be based more on an ecological manifestation of xenophobia than on science.Ĭamels evolved in North America and slowly migrated into Asia and the Middle East over hundreds of thousands to millions of years.

That post was written on the assumption that invasive species are bad and their spread should be prevented when possible. In a previous Sense and Sustainability post, I discussed a 2015 legal battle about ballast water regulation and invasive species prevention. He discusses, too, whether our fears could be getting in the way of conserving biodiversity, and responding to the threat of climate change.A recent article in the New York Times Science section, “Invasive Species Aren’t Always Unwanted,” highlights an ongoing debate between people who are alarmed about human-mediated re-shuffling of species across the planet, and those who accept the re-shuffling of species as part of an ongoing, natural process of change in ecosystems. Ken Thompson puts forward a fascinating array of narratives to explore what he sees as the crucial question - why only a minority of introduced species succeed, and why so few of them go on to cause trouble. We have all heard the horror stories of invasives, from Japanese knotweed that puts fear into the heart of gardeners to brown tree snakes that have taken over the island of Guam.īut do we need to fear invaders? And indeed, can we control them, and do we choose the right targets?

This is a classic example of the contradictions of 'native' and 'invasive' species, a hot issue right now, as the flip-side of biodiversity. They evolved in North America, retain their greatest diversity in South America, and the only remaining wild dromedaries are in Australia. Where do camels belong? In the Arab world may seem the obvious answer, but they are relative newcomers there.

Where Do Camels Belong by Ken Thompson