12. Colonial Weevils
When British Colonists arrived in what would become the United States, they found countless things they didn’t expect. From hostile natives to bizarre wildlife such as the turkey, the New World was truly just that. One very small surprise led to long-term food stability issue for the early settlers: weevils.
The Maize Weevil is a small brown beetle that can easily inflict ruinous damage on multiple crops including wheat, corn, rice, and more. Warm, dry winters led to huge outbreaks of weevils that did their best to decimate the staple crops of the early colonizers.
Because they weren’t content with just destroying crops, weevils also liked to tunnel into loaves of bread and hardtack, sometimes becoming trapped or dying in them leaving an unfortunate, crunchy surprise for early colonists. While weevils still exist and are active throughout the United States, modern farming methods have rendered them largely incapable of doing too much harm to the crops we rely on.