Showing posts with label rodents. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rodents. Show all posts
Wednesday, 10 September 2008
Saturday, 12 April 2008
Rat wars in India
India's armed forces, which have been battling insurgents in the northeast for over six decades, are now engaged with another enemy - rats.
The rat population in the northeastern states of Mizoram and Manipur - the two states bordering Myanmar - has witnessed a massive growth. With rats destroying crops and devouring grain, the threat of famine looms over the region. Soldiers deployed in the area to fight insurgents are being called in to help the civilian administration tackle the impending crisis.
The explosion in the rat population has been triggered by the flowering of a certain species of bamboo (Melocanna baccifera) that grows mainly in Mizoram but in other neighboring states as well. Thirty percent of Mizoram is covered by wild bamboo forests.
The flowering of this bamboo results in millions of seeds being dropped. Rats devour these seeds. The high protein content of the seeds is believed to either dramatically increase fertility rates among the rats or provide them with the nutrition to enhance survival rates of the entire litter. Litters of over a dozen rats survive and within three months are ready to reproduce themselves. This has resulted in a major rat population explosion.
Some experts say that the rat population in Mizoram is perhaps ten times that of humans in the state.
Source: Asia Times Online
The rat population in the northeastern states of Mizoram and Manipur - the two states bordering Myanmar - has witnessed a massive growth. With rats destroying crops and devouring grain, the threat of famine looms over the region. Soldiers deployed in the area to fight insurgents are being called in to help the civilian administration tackle the impending crisis.
The explosion in the rat population has been triggered by the flowering of a certain species of bamboo (Melocanna baccifera) that grows mainly in Mizoram but in other neighboring states as well. Thirty percent of Mizoram is covered by wild bamboo forests.
The flowering of this bamboo results in millions of seeds being dropped. Rats devour these seeds. The high protein content of the seeds is believed to either dramatically increase fertility rates among the rats or provide them with the nutrition to enhance survival rates of the entire litter. Litters of over a dozen rats survive and within three months are ready to reproduce themselves. This has resulted in a major rat population explosion.
Some experts say that the rat population in Mizoram is perhaps ten times that of humans in the state.
Source: Asia Times Online
Thursday, 27 March 2008
An agouti in a blanket
Staff at the Newquay Zoo have been waiting for two years for their only breeding agouti couple to mate.
And the wait finally paid off when the two tiny creatures, which are the smallest of the ten agouti species in the world, were born three weeks ago. They are the first hairy rump - or black-backed - agouti to be born in the UK.
Source: Daily Mail
And the wait finally paid off when the two tiny creatures, which are the smallest of the ten agouti species in the world, were born three weeks ago. They are the first hairy rump - or black-backed - agouti to be born in the UK.
Source: Daily Mail
Wednesday, 26 March 2008
Cute little Zebra Mouse
I found this charming little guy at a website, Furry Critters, which is full of information, pictures, and forums about hamsters, rats and mice.A word of warning about the Picture Gallery: there is just way, way too much to look at there - you might be lost for hours looking at photos.
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