Dr. Daniel Simberloff, Professor, Nancy Gore Hunger Chair of Excellence in Environmental Science, will speak on “The Small Indian Mongoose: Ongoing Spread of a Global Scourge” from noon to 1 p.m. Friday, Jan. 30 during the UT Science Forum in Thompson-Boling Arena Dining Room C-D.
The small Indian mongoose is one of the most destructive invasive species and has spread to many locations worldwide during the last century, largely because of deliberate introductions by people who thought it could control introduced rats or native snakes. Although originally tropical and subtropical, it is now beginning to invade Europe. It has contributed to a number of extinctions of native mammals, amphibians, and birds, and it threatens a number of other species. In the course of this travel, this mongoose has evolved substantially. It has proven to be one of the most difficult of invasive species to eradicate or manage.
The Science Forum is free and open to the public.