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Article: Zebra mussels among the species that migrate from locale to locale.
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- December 3, 1998
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The zebra mussel is perhaps the most notorious of a kind of species scientists call ``invasive,'' ``exotic,'' or, less charitably, ``nuisance.''
They get those names because they have been moved _ often by man, and sometimes on purpose _ beyond their natural stamping grounds. Oftentimes, the environment would have been better off if they had just stayed home.
Animals and plants have hitchhiked aboard ships and escaped from research projects. A study in the journal Nature this month found that iguanas native to Guadeloupe rafted to another Caribbean island, Anguilla, on the backs of hurricane-driven trees.
Sometimes animals are introduced ...