Pest (animal)
A pest is an animal which has characteristics which people regard as injurious or unwanted. This is most often because it causes damage to
agriculture through feeding on crops or parasitising
livestock, such as
codling moth on
apples, or
boll weevil on
cotton. An animal can also be a pest when it causes damage to a wild ecosystem or carries
germs within human habitats. Examples of these include those organisms which vector human disease, such as
rats and
fleas which carry the
plague disease, or mosquitoes which vector
malaria.
Encyclopedia
A
pest is an animal which has characteristics which people regard as injurious or unwanted. This is most often because it causes damage to
agriculture through feeding on crops or parasitising
livestock, such as
codling moth on
apples, or
boll weevil on
cotton. An animal can also be a pest when it causes damage to a wild ecosystem or carries
germs within human habitats. Examples of these include those organisms which vector human disease, such as
rats and
fleas which carry the
plague disease, or mosquitoes which vector
malaria.
Plant pests, and sometimes
fungal pests, are usually called
weeds.
It is possible for an animal to be a pest in one setting but beneficial or domesticated in another . Many weeds are also seen as useful under certain conditions, for instance Paterson's curse is often valued as food for
bees and as a wildflower, even though it can poison livestock.
The concept of a pest is anthropogenic, based on human purposes.
Related is pestilence, which is any highly-infectious disease.
See also
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