The Invasive Biologist’s Version of “The Night Before Christmas”
Dr. Clement C. Moore wrote the original “A Visit from St. Nicholas” often known as “The Night Before Christmas” or “Twas the Night Before Christmas” in 1823 as a Christmas poem for his children. Later, Thomas Nast inflated St. Nicholas to the “chubby and plump” Santa that we know these days. I am sure that neither envisaged this humble little elf turning their masterpieces into the version that you see here. Neither of them probably ever thought about invasive species either, I suspect. It is with the greatest respect for their genius and in the spirit of the holiday season that I share with you a little piece, versions of which I have read to students for years, now with a new twist, the perspective of an invasive species biologist.