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This was an unexpectedly fascinating read. This blew my mind: > Rats are responsible for about half of all bird and reptile extinctions on islands, according
by pkfrank 11y ago
This was an unexpectedly fascinating read. This blew my mind:
> Rats are responsible for about half of all bird and reptile extinctions on islands, according to Gregg Howald of the group Island Conservation.
I live in the LES of NYC, and will routinely see 50+ rats in a 10 block span. They have massive burrows through a local park, with ample opportunity to live and breed, and a constant supply of trash and food (sometimes left "for the birds.")
One small benefit is that they prove a consistent supply of food for the local park's hawks, which can regularly be seen feasting on them.
Here's a cool video of hunting dogs attacking a rat burrow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxQksEF2uso https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxQksEF2uso
- stinos 11y agoThis blew my mind not from this article but from a documentary I once saw, and equally if not more mindblowing, it is estimated that about 20% of the entire world food supply goes to rats
- fudged71 11y agoSo their eradication could be a solution to the food crisis? Interesting thought.
- nico_h 11y agoHumankind produces enough food for humankind, but due to various reasons entirely human, some of it is wasted or destroyed (to keep price up) rather than distributed to those in need. http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/05/13/un-one-third-of-food-produced-for-human-consumption-is-uneaten/ http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/05/13/un-one-third-of-food-pro...
- nostromo 11y agoThat's the problem with prolific rat poison use in NYC -- it also poisons the birds who eat the rats. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/12/nyregion/rat-poison-is-found-in-bodies-of-3-dead-hawks.html http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/12/nyregion/rat-poison-is-fou...
- unpixer 11y agoIf you're on the LES and enjoyed the article, you might also enjoy Robert Sullivan's Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants (Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Rats-Observations-History-Unwanted-Inhabitants/dp/1582344779/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319249495&sr=1-1 http://www.amazon.com/Rats-Observations-History-Unwanted-Inh...).
- pkfrank 11y agoThanks for the suggestion, I'll check it out!