Chaque année, les États-Unis larguent des millions de larves affamées depuis des avions au-dessus de l'Amérique centrale, mais ce n'est ni une farce ni une expérience bizarre — c'est une bataille épique contre les larves de mouches à viande ! Ces larves peuvent provoquer de terribles infections chez les animaux en dévorant leur chair vivante. Alors pourquoi les larguent-ils ? Les larves étatsuniennes sont spécialement conçues en laboratoire - et elles ne peuvent pas se reproduire. Cette technique vise donc à éradiquer cette population de nuisibles. En procédant ainsi, les scientifiques empêchent les larves de se propager et de nuire au bétail, aux animaux de compagnie et à la faune sauvage aussi bien en Amérique centrale qu'aux États-Unis. C'est un moyen efficace et très ingénieux de protéger les animaux, de maintenir l'équilibre des écosystèmes et d'économiser des millions de dollars en dommages potentiels chaque année ! Animation créée par Sympa. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Musique par Epidemic Sound https://www.epidemicsound.com Pour ne rien perdre de Sympa, abonnez-vous!: https://goo.gl/6E4Xna ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nos réseaux sociaux : Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sympasympacom/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sympa.officiel/ Stock de fichiers (photos, vidéos et autres): https://www.depositphotos.com https://www.shutterstock.com https://www.eastnews.ru ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Si tu en veux encore plus, fais un tour ici: http://sympa-sympa.com
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00:00Man is at the top of the food chain, but some creatures still cause us a lot of problems, and we can't do anything about it.
00:10Look at these flies with red eyes and a blue-green body.
00:14They are the worst nightmare of some farmers in the United States of America.
00:18They are called Cochliomia.
00:21For centuries, these harmful little animals have been devouring Florida cattle in California,
00:26causing serious damage to agriculture.
00:30To fight these parasitic flies, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has dropped 15 million sterile larvae by helicopter along the border between Panama and Colombia.
00:41There is even a factory in Panama that produces these sterile larvae as if they were fresh fruit.
00:47It may seem strange, but it's actually quite logical.
00:51Indeed, female flies have only one chance to mate during their lifetime.
00:55So if they mate with a sterile male, it's very effective.
00:59No offspring. Never.
01:03Thanks to this trick, wild flies cannot reproduce, because they only find sterile partners.
01:10And this allows us to control their numbers.
01:12But how do we make all these males sterile?
01:15It's very simple. A small radiation discharge is enough.
01:19You bring a handful of flies to a laboratory.
01:22You quickly put them in a X-ray machine.
01:25Then you release them into nature, where their congeners are.
01:29When the Cochliomia reappear in a region,
01:32inspectors board off-road vehicles to travel thousands of kilometers
01:37in search of infected animals and to stop the spread of the disease.
01:41There is no miracle solution to completely eradicate these parasites.
01:45But the action plan is clear.
01:47We continue to send sterile fly larvae.
01:50And so we keep a long way ahead of these little creatures.
01:55Do you know why it is very dangerous to move animals from one habitat to another?
01:59Because it is possible that they do not meet predators in their new habitat
02:03and that they become an invasive species,
02:06likely to cause an ecological disaster.
02:09Here is a simple example.
02:11In the 1930s,
02:13Australian farmers were confronted with a serious problem.
02:17The colleoptera, Dermolepida albohirtum,
02:20ravaged sugarcane plantations in the north of the country.
02:24They devoured a large part of the crops.
02:27And the farmers were outnumbered.
02:29As they did not want to use toxic pesticides,
02:32they brought in the toad of the canes of South America
02:35in the hope that they would eat all these vile colleoptera.
02:38But when these toads found themselves in the fields,
02:41they could not reach their prey,
02:43installed at the top of the stems.
02:45The toads simply could not jump high enough.
02:48Instead of eating the colleoptera,
02:50they began to devour other creatures.
02:54Then, these amphibians began to multiply at a frantic pace.
02:58The female toad can lay about 30,000 eggs at a time.
03:02After three days, small toads hatch eggs.
03:05They swim for 20 weeks before turning into toads.
03:09Then they live between 5 and 10 years.
03:12Millions of jumping animals have begun to invade
03:15the entire north of the continent,
03:17destroying all biodiversity.
03:19Leaves, grass, insects, carcasses.
03:23Toads eat everything, leaving nothing to other animals.
03:27The problem is that these toads have proven
03:30to be very resistant creatures.
03:32Heat, cold, rain, drought.
03:35They can reproduce anywhere and nothing can stop them.
03:38But what about other animals?
03:40Australia is full of alligators, big birds
03:43and other creatures that would enjoy
03:45these jumping amphibians.
03:47Yes, but the animals that try to reproduce
03:50from these toads will not survive.
03:52The little problem is that the toad is venomous.
03:55The glands behind its eyes produce a powerful toxin
03:59that causes serious health problems
04:01to those who approach it.
04:03Some farmers have even seen birds fall from the sky
04:06to be able to swallow these amphibians.
04:08More than 80 years have passed since these farmers
04:11introduced a hundred of these toads in Australia.
04:14Today, they are about 1.5 billion.
04:17They already live on 1 million square kilometers,
04:20which corresponds to about the surface
04:22of the states of Texas and Oklahoma combined.
04:25So far, scientists and biologists
04:28have not found effective ways to get rid of them.
04:31People have tried to catch them,
04:33but it was useless.
04:35If you catch 98 toads out of 100
04:37on the edge of a small pond,
04:39the remaining two toads will be able to produce
04:4130,000 eggs in one night.
04:43Nature may restore balance
04:45when animals immune to toad toxins
04:48appear in Australia.
04:50But for now, nothing seems to be able to stop them.
04:53How to curb the uncontrolled proliferation
04:56of dangerous mosquitoes for humans?
04:58The solution is to create 735 million genetically modified mosquitoes
05:03and to mix these two groups.
05:05All over the world, many species of mosquitoes
05:08are carriers of infections
05:10that can cause serious health problems for humans.
05:12No one, or almost no one, likes mosquitoes.
05:15These bug-eating insects prevent us from sleeping
05:18and their stings cause unbearable nausea.
05:21Many people would probably be happy
05:23if these creatures disappeared from the surface of the earth.
05:26Scientists may have found a way to make this wish come true.
05:30Only mosquito females sting us.
05:32They need food to produce eggs.
05:35Scientists have therefore released genetically modified male mosquitoes
05:40with a particular protein.
05:42When two mosquitoes come in contact,
05:44this protein is transmitted from the male to the female
05:47and prevents it from multiplying.
05:49We attack the females before they reach the age
05:51when they begin to sting.
05:54Females can therefore no longer produce offspring,
05:57which means they no longer need to sting humans and animals.
06:00And the more scientists spread this protein,
06:03the more the population of mosquitoes decreases.
06:06This seems to be a good thing.
06:08But about 240,000 people have signed a petition
06:11asking for the cancellation of this operation.
06:14Many scientists believe that the disappearance of a single insect
06:18can lead to a biological disaster.
06:21Nature is a complex and balanced system
06:24where the slightest change can lead to serious problems.
06:26Mosquitoes are a source of food for many reptiles and amphibians.
06:31The extinction of mosquitoes could lead to the disappearance of a large number of species.
06:35We would witness a catastrophic chain reaction
06:38of which we would not know the outcome.
06:40However, such modified mosquitoes have already been introduced in Florida.
06:44And it seems that nothing terrible has happened.
06:47The good news is that people now have less health problems.
06:52In addition, since 2019,
06:54about 1.5 billion of these mosquitoes have been spread around the world.
06:59This has saved millions of lives
07:01and has not yet disrupted the delicate balance of nature.
07:04Recently, scientists have released another group of mosquitoes
07:08considered not dangerous in East Africa.
07:11Let's hope these researchers are sure of their shot.
07:14Invasive species are not always mosquitoes, flies or amphibians.
07:19They can also be large animals,
07:21such as wild pigs or super pigs.
07:24These pigs are a mixture of domestic pigs and wild boars.
07:28The south of the United States already has nearly 7 million.
07:31Thanks to the efforts of the population,
07:33these animals have not yet spread to the north.
07:36But the danger for the northern states comes from Canada.
07:40Pigs were introduced there in the 1980s to support agriculture.
07:44But at the beginning of the 2000s,
07:46these animals lost their popularity.
07:48They remained in the wild.
07:50And farmers were convinced
07:52that they would not survive the harsh Canadian winters.
07:55Oh, they were wrong!
07:57Wild pigs have proven to be very resistant
07:59and able to reproduce quickly.
08:02These animals dig and destroy the soil,
08:04eating almost everything they find.
08:06And as a result,
08:08there is not much left for other animals.
08:11Moreover, they also attack other creatures.
08:14They attack mice,
08:16geese,
08:17ducks
08:18and some species of deer.
08:20They trample on crops,
08:22grass and flowers.
08:24And they are not afraid of anything.
08:26These are real natural bulldozers.
08:28Any farm is in danger
08:30if it is on the path of these hordes of super pigs.
08:33And people can do nothing against them.
08:35The northern states understand that an invasion is imminent.
08:38And they are therefore preparing for a long fight.
08:41Super pigs love swampy areas
08:44where the grass is high.
08:46Canadian and American farmers
08:48will try to repel them
08:50in more open areas
08:52and then contain them.
08:54This plan is not perfect.
08:56But it slows down the pigs
08:58and saves time.