By Alice Rossignol and Rachael Gleason
Editors note: Great Lakes SmackDown! Terrestrial Terror is an ongoing Great Lakes Echo series.
It was a crapshoot, but Shakespeare’s Darling whipped The Egg-beater with its skills of damaging crops and contaminating areas with diseased droppings. The Extreme Defoliator overpowered The Stale Wind, which was just a not-so-stinky nuisance in comparison.
The European Starling causes millions of dollars of agricultural damage a year and is extremely adaptable. But millions have also been spent on Gypsy Moth research the last 10 years and in larvae form can defoliate and kill trees.
Fighter Profiles:
Alias: Shakespeare’s Darling
Legal name: Sturnus vulgaris
Home Turf: Europe, Asia, Africa
U.S. Fighting Debut: 1890
Agent: Embarrassingly enough, this darling starling was introduced intentionally as part of a plan to introduce all birds mentioned in Shakespeare’s play to the U.S.
Preferred Great Lakes Fighting Arena: All Great Lakes states and provinces
Weight/Size class: Length: 7.9—9.1 Wingspan: 12.2—15.7 Weight: 2.1—3.4.
Fighting Skills:
- This avian intruder is highly adaptable and is described by Cornell University’s The Birds of North America as: “arguably the most successful avian introduction to this continent,” and has earned a title on the top “100 of the World’s Worst Invasive Alien Species.”
- A formidable foe, starlings out-compete native species especially cavity-nesting birds.
- These birds have a knack for damaging fruit and grain crops like blueberries and cherries. A 2000 study estimated that starlings cause $800 million of damage to U.S. crops per year. Ouch.
- Sick of these frequent fliers? Well, that’s because they can make you sick. European starlings have been known to carry diseases like meningitis and salmonellosisn that can be passed to livestock and poultry. Some diseases can also be passed to humans.
Life Expectancy: Up to 20 years.
Offspring: 1 to 2 clutches of 4 to 6 eggs per year.
Alias: The Extreme Defoliator
Legal name: Lymantria dispar
Home Turf: Europe and Asia
U.S. Fighting Debut: 1860s
Agent: An agent named E.L. Trouvelot brought the moths from France to conduct silkworm research. The moths escaped and the invasion began.
Preferred Great Lakes fighting arena: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Ontario, Quebec.
Weight/Size class: Adult form: Males: 1.5 inch wingspan. Females: 2-inch wingspan. Caterpillar form: 1.5 to 2 inches long.
Fighting Skills:
- This insect is most lethal in its voracious caterpillar form. It feeds on the foliage of hundreds of types of trees, with a preference for oak.
- This feeding habit can lead to complete defoliation of trees and combined with other factors can cause DEATH.
Life Expectancy: About 1 year
Offspring: A female lays 50 to 1,000 eggs in each year. Eggs can be spread by “hitchhiking” where eggs are laid on moving objects like vehicles.