3 Islands Overrun By Crazy Animals

Come with me, children, to a magical island full of deadly snakes! Wait, that's a terrible idea. Do not follow me. Anthony here for DNews. When I was a kid I used to read comics and books and watch old movies that were all about setting foot on a weird, uncharted island where animals had their own advanced society. No, I'm not about to tell you there's an island of Ape Scientists out there. And I'm sorry for that. But there are a lot of islands that do have a magical, overrun by animals vibe- from the scary to the adorable to the weird. Like Japan's Cat Island, Tashiro-jima. It's a small fishing island off the coast of Ishinomaki City that's home to about 100 people- and way, way, way more stray cats. There's no official population count, but thanks to a local belief that feeding strays is good luck, the cat population keeps growing. Cat Island loves their cat population so much that there's a shrine to them in the center of the Island and tons of cat shaped buildings. There are no pet dogs and they're pretty much banned from being on the island at all. While the cat population is growing, the human one's falling- 83% of the people on Tashiro-jima are elderly, with 50% of them being over 65. They were also hit very hard by the 2011 tsunami. Which means eventually, the island's going to be cats only. Then there's Christmas Island, which is a territory of Australia and the only home in the world to the Christmas Red Crab. They're interesting because they can't swim- they live entirely on land underground, away from the seashore. But their young can only live in water- so every year during monsoon season, they make a long migration out of the rainforest to the ocean- ALL 120 MILLION OF THEM. They go in a completely straight line, following these ancient migratory paths- they go right through towns and roads. THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT ANYTHING. About a million of them die in traffic every year but they're just like "Whatever, I just laid 100,000 eggs. Deal with it." And if you live on Christmas Island, that is exactly what you do. You just sort of avoid them and step through them the best you can. So ridiculous. And finally, beware the deadly Snake Island. Ilha de Queimada Grande- a 110 acre island of the coast of Sao Paolo, Brazil. It's the only home in the world of the Golden Lancehead Viper, which is a species of pit viper. And it's a deadly, mean-tempered sucker. The effects of its venom are swelling, local pain, nausea, vomiting, blood blisters, bruising, blood in your vomit and urine, intestinal bleeding... etc etc. You get it. It's so deadly that the Brazilian navy won't let anyone land on the island. There are anywhere from 2000 and 4000 Golden Lanceheads just lying in wait- which actually makes them endangered. Due to inbreeding, wildfires, and illegal animal poaching and trading, these guys are dying out. Okay, choose your own adventure time. You can vacation on one magical animal island. Which do you choose? I go christmas island- I'll take weird over cute or deadly any day of the week. Hey, by the way, we've been doing this for about two months now and we just wanted to say thanks- you guys have been awesome and it means a ton to us how much you've been coming back and talking about our videos. We've had a couple people we've seen commenting on every video like Cocoalrose, LynneSkysong and DK0526. Thank you guys for coming by every day. And also a big thanks to Alex Vizzini and Don Alba on twitter for spreading the word about the show. You guys all rule and we're excited to be doing something you care about as much as we do. And if you're new to the channel, welcome, please subscribe, and we'll see you soon.