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This story resonates with me. Here in New Zealand, we have many native species of birds, insects, frogs, lizards and the like that thrived when our islands wer
by abraae 11y ago
This story resonates with me.
Here in New Zealand, we have many native species of birds, insects, frogs, lizards and the like that thrived when our islands were cut off from the rest of the planet, but that have become extinct, or are in imminent danger of being so due to introduced predators such as rats, stoats, hedgehogs, ferrets, cats etc. etc.
It leads to the bizarre situation that conservation here is largely about killing things.
- djsumdog 11y agoI lived in Wellington for about three years. NZ is truly one of the most beautiful places in the world. It is sad how many of the birds are threatened or endangered because of invasive species. NZ customs is pretty diligent about preventing harmful things from coming into the country thankfully.
- cfontes 11y agoI still have a bit of sadness when I get to NZ and remember we humans killed all the Moas very early after landing there, would be so interesting to see one alive.
- BurningFrog 11y agoGive it time: http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/10248028/Expert-supports-Moa-revival-idea http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/10248028/Expert-supports-...
- SapphireSun 11y agoIt's the same in the Galapagos islands too. I wonder how it is that rats are so fierce that they destroy everything they touch...
- Sven7 11y agoWe are currently studying Facebook and Wall Street to answer that.
- abraae 11y agoRats are terrible all right, though stoats are worse. There has been some success with new locally developed trap technologies. These ones use a CO2 cylinder to strike the rats or stoats, then reset themselves automatically. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1402/S00802/unprecedented-0-pest-survival-rate-in-doc-rat-control-trial.htm http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1402/S00802/unprecedented-0.... Much better if you're a city boy who doesn't really like dealing with traps and dead animals too much. We use a bigger version to catch possums. Its hard to tell how many we catch though, as the feral pigs like to carry off and eat the dead ones. Its really a fascinating logistical problem trying to eradicate a broad spectrum of pests.
- Xunxi 11y agoNeat product, well thought out internal engineering but pretty pricey for domestic use. http://www.goodnature.co.nz/products/rat-stoat/ http://www.goodnature.co.nz/products/rat-stoat/
- aerique 11y agoThat's basically what rats do. I've got pet rats and they're cute and intelligent, but they're rodents optimized for breeding. That can breed so fast it isn't even funny and they destroy everything with their teeth to either eat it or build nests from the bits and pieces or just to test it out with their teeth.
- kale 11y agoRats are crazy awesome. They're not mice or hamsters or gerbils. They are so much more intelligent and can have a personality. And I'm convinced that hamster personality is a scale of how likely it is to bite you That being said, wild rats are very destructive because of their hardiness and intelligence. Raccoons may be the top animal for intelligence in urban environments, but they can't match rats for their destructive potential.
- ionforce 11y agoIt could be argued that every organism is optimized for breeding.
- ivanhoe 11y agothe issue is not that much about them breeding a lot, as much as it's a lack of predators to control the population...
- misja111 11y agoIt's because rats, like humans, are omnivores. Many predators live in balance with the population of their preys. When the predators are too successful, the prey population will diminish, which causes the predator population to shrink, which is good for the preys, etc. But omnivores like rats can wipe out an entire prey population and then just switch to some other source of food.
- PhasmaFelis 11y agoRats devastate island populations in particular because those populations aren't evolved to deal with them. Relatively remote islands create a sort of pocket ecosystem where new organisms can't easily arrive from outside, so all the resident species evolve to deal with only the local threats and to fit snugly into their niche. But rats are the end product of a ongoing continent-wide evolutionary battle; they're flexible, they're great at dealing with new situations, and the locals aren't.
- teekert 11y agoIt also leads to the bizarre situation that local biodiversity may increase while global biodiversity decreases.
- journeeman 11y agoHow so?
- nroets 11y agoLet's say the tree lobster on Lord Howe is replaced by rats and cats. Then Lord Howe lost one specie and gained 2, for a net gain of one specie. So local biodiversity increased. The planet lost one specie, so global biodiversity decreased.
- xanthopan 11y agoI'm sure Lord Howe lost much more than just one species of tree lobster.
- hampizza 11y agoYou're right. go down to page 26 of this pdf: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/threatenedspecies/TS20151204.pdf http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/threatenedspecie... Makes for scary reading!
- yareally 11y agoThat assumes nothing else in the ecosystem was dependent on the lost species.
- xenihn 11y agoYou think the rats won't continue to displace other species? And what happens to the rats when there's nothing left to displace? And then what happens to the cats?
- magicmu 11y agoIn New Zealand, isn't there also a huge insect called the Weta? I've never been to your beautiful homeland, but I've heard tales. I wonder what exactly differentiates these "tree lobsters" from Weta.
- alistairSH 11y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weta https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weta Weta are a bit like large, nocturnal crickets. There are more than one variety, but you're probably thinking of the giant variety. We get a relative of them here in the US, usually called cave crickets or camel crickets (here in VA). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhaphidophoridae https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhaphidophoridae
- bovermyer 11y agoCamel crickets can go directly to hell. They loved our basement when my family was living in Virginia and just about gave me a heart attack every time I went down there.
- rottyguy 11y agoLove your country when I was there 2yrs ago but must admit I thought the policies to inventory everything at the airport (I've never had my shoes checked for soil/mud before) was a losing proposition. It struck me that the prevailing thought was that NZ was so fragile that anything foreign could tip the scales and cause catastrophic consequences (eg. for those old enough to remember the Boy in a Plastic Bubble). Which might happen but life evolves... (which also happens)
- WD-42 11y agoDid you read the article? Yes, ecosystems can be fragile. New Zealand has (rightfully) decided to protect theirs, even if it means a slight inconvenience at the airport.
- rottyguy 11y agoOf course they have a right to do whatever, but I'm just saying it seems like a losing strategy. Bugs and Birds get blown off course, rats sneak on ships, etc. all the time. Just saying it seems like an impossible task to police this...
- abraae 11y agoCertainly an immensely challenging task, but hopefully not impossible. We have hardly begun to apply new technology to the problem - drones, new lures, mesh networks, low cost cameras. Also we've stopped those pesky Victorians from introducing new species. Its a good thing they never introduced wildcats to control the stoats, weasels and ferrets - which they introduced to control the rabbits - which they introduced to give them something to shoot at on quiet Sunday afternnons.
- zenbane 11y agoSAY NO TO DIDDYMO
- mylons 11y agoyou forgot to mention humans.