They released just 30 predators into the wild—then the snakes started vanishing. Wildlife teams had spent years tracking an invasive snake population that was devastating local species, and the plan seemed straightforward: introduce a limited number of natural hunters to regain control.
In 1979, Japan released about 30 small mongooses on Amami Oshima, a remote island in the warm waters between Kyushu and Okinawa. The animals were intended to control the local population of the habu, a venomous pit viper responsible for hundreds of bites each year across the Amami Islands.The habu is a nocturnal snake that can grow past two meters. It hunts using heat-sensing pits between its eyes…