12 Very Cute, Very Invasive Species

Look at that little guy! Who wouldn’t to see one? But the issue with rabbits is always that once you have two rabbits, you have 30 rabbits.

Their dental care might be the only thing holding them back from peak cuteness. These guys are in serious need of custom Crest White Strips. Of course, they’re probably too focused on causing erosion and hogging as much vegetation as their impressive chompers can cut down.

When reports emerged claiming long-tailed macaques were endangered, biologists immediately hit back with a response that basically came out to, “THOSE guys? Let me assure you, they’re doing MORE than fine.”

Red-eared sliders are a popular pet. Unfortunately, not always for their entire lifespan, which leads to them getting tossed in the nearest body of water — where they take the fuck over.

If you were to spot this cute little fellow and send a photo to a bird-watching friend, you might get a response back along the line of, “Fuck those guys.” That’s because the house sparrow has a habit of showing up in a habitat and killing the native birds to take over their nests. Not cool.

If you ran into one of these adorable little hopping guys, you might be delighted. Then, you might find out, as the author of this Audubon story did after proudly calling a wildlife center to help rehabilitate a baby starling, that said wildlife center refuses to take in starlings, due to them needing less-than-zero human help to thrive.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve sought out many a capybara photo. They’re eminently memeable, and they take baths with little oranges on their heads. What’s not to like? Unfortunately, they’re also considered an invasive species, as Florida is currently discovering.

Whether you consider bullfrogs cute probably depends on your texture preferences. Slime aside, I think we can all agree that they look great in photos. They’re also an invasive predator that can pump out 20,000 eggs per pop.

If your parents ever told you that your goldfish was living a better life in a big lake somewhere, you should hope they were lying. When they actually are dropped in nearby bodies of water, they do quite swimmingly. They also get huge — I'm talking over a foot long. And yet, somehow I overfed them?

Sticklers might say that Koi are simply a type of goldfish, to which I say, this is why you’re not in any group chats. Your attempt to make your local pond look like a beautiful tapestry might result in the whole thing going to shambles.

Even if you’re a lifelong hater of anything creepy or crawly, I think we can admit this bug’s got a certain je ne sais quoi. They also will happily eat pretty much every plant within sight.

“Not my little Mr. Tuxedo!” you might be exclaiming, and sure, you’re right. The problem is, once you take the house out of the house cat, they become an absolute ecological menace. Any cat owner’s probably received a “gift” in the form of a torn-up bit of local fauna, so imagine how that kill count goes up when they’re fully wild.