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Mutant Mice Taking over Remote Island
May 22, 2008 10:44 AM
by
findingDulcinea Staff
Giant carnivorous rodents with an appetite for baby birds are overrunning Gough Island in the Atlantic, endangering several rare seabird species.
30-Second Summary
The mice attack albatross, petrel and shearwater chicks in their nests at night. The birds’ parents, having no experience with predators, are unable to ward them off.
In the mid-nineteenth century, whalers brought to the island the house mice who are the ancestors of today’s mutated predators. Their numbers have grown to about 700,000, and they are thought to be the largest mice in the world.
The isolated, British-owned territory located in the South Atlantic was once the perfect home for 22 seabird species because of its lack of predators. Scientists say it an important seabird colony and it has been designated a World Heritage Site. But the conservation group Birdlife International says that some of the species are now in danger of becoming extinct.
“Things are getting worse on Gough. In the presence of house mice, the albatross and bunting have no chance of survival. The only hope for these threatened birds is the complete eradication of mice,” said Dr. Geoff Hilton, an RSPB scientist. “The world’s greatest seabird island is being eaten alive.”
Off the island, birds are not faring much better; the International Union for Conservation of Nature reports that climate change is affecting one in eight birds.
Several conservation groups recently released a report saying that more than one-quarter of the world’s wildlife has been lost since 1970, a rate “unprecedented since the extinction of the dinosaurs.”
In the mid-nineteenth century, whalers brought to the island the house mice who are the ancestors of today’s mutated predators. Their numbers have grown to about 700,000, and they are thought to be the largest mice in the world.
The isolated, British-owned territory located in the South Atlantic was once the perfect home for 22 seabird species because of its lack of predators. Scientists say it an important seabird colony and it has been designated a World Heritage Site. But the conservation group Birdlife International says that some of the species are now in danger of becoming extinct.
“Things are getting worse on Gough. In the presence of house mice, the albatross and bunting have no chance of survival. The only hope for these threatened birds is the complete eradication of mice,” said Dr. Geoff Hilton, an RSPB scientist. “The world’s greatest seabird island is being eaten alive.”
Off the island, birds are not faring much better; the International Union for Conservation of Nature reports that climate change is affecting one in eight birds.
Several conservation groups recently released a report saying that more than one-quarter of the world’s wildlife has been lost since 1970, a rate “unprecedented since the extinction of the dinosaurs.”
Headline Links: ‘Giant carnivorous mice threaten world’s greatest seabird colony’
“Gough is the stage for one of nature’s greatest horror shows,” reports The Guardian.
Source: The Guardian
The Gough bunting and the Tristan albatross are two species restricted to Gough Island, and both face extinction from mice. There are another five bird species on the island that are in danger of eradication.
Source: Wildlifeextra.com
Related Topics: Other weird creatures and extinction dangers
There have been an increasing number of reports of individual animals with genetic mutations, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
FindingDulcinea pays tribute to the world’s weirdest creatures with photos, videos, and biographies of odd amphibians, mammals, fish, bugs, and more.
Source: findingDulcinea
Species in danger
Among the rare birds of the world that are now in danger because of climate change include the Floreana mockingbird of the Galapagos Islands and the spoon-billed sandpiper of northeastern Russia and south Asia.
Source: Reuters
The populations of species fell by 25 percent on land, 28 percent in the oceans, and 29 percent in freshwater ecosystems, according to The Living Planet Index, a joint report by the Zoological Society of London, the WWF and the Global Footprint Network.
Source: findingDulcinea
© 2009 Dulcinea Media, Inc.
