Monster Mice

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

Hehehehe... sounds like we need to rear a generation of Monster Tabbys!

Gotta love the internet, eh?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8739804/

‘Monster mice’ are eating island’s seabirds
Rodents evolved to triple normal size, attack much larger chicks

Reuters
Updated: 11:37 a.m. ET July 28, 2005

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - “Monster mice” are eating much larger albatross chicks alive, threatening rare bird species on a remote South Atlantic island seen as the world’s most important seabird colony.

Conservationists say the avian massacre is occurring on Gough Island in the South Atlantic, a British territory about 1,000 miles southwest of Cape Town and home to more than 10 million birds.

“Gough Island hosts an astonishing community of seabirds and this catastrophe could make many extinct within decades,” said Geoff Hilton, a senior research biologist with Britain’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

“We think there are about 700,000 mice, which have somehow learned to eat chicks alive,” he said in a statement.

The researchers believe the mice are devouring more than one million petrel, shearwater and albatross chicks on Gough Island every year.

The island is home to 99 percent of the world’s Tristan albatross and Atlantic petrel populations — the birds most often attacked. Just 2,000 Tristan albatross pairs remain.

Like cat attacking a hippo
“The albatross chicks weigh up to 10 kg (22 pounds) and ... the mice weigh just 35 grams; it is like a tabby cat attacking a hippopotamus,” Hilton said.

The house mice — believed to have made their way to Gough decades ago on sealing and whaling ships — have evolved to about three times their normal size.

This is a common phenomenon on island habitats — for reasons much debated among scientists — where small animal species often grow larger while big species such as elephants display “dwarfism” and become smaller.

In the case of the mice of Gough Island, their remarkable growth seems to have been given a boost by a vast reservoir of fresh meat and protein.

The rapacious rodents gnaw into the bodies of the defenseless and flightless chicks, leaving a gaping wound that leads to an agonizing death. Scientists say once one mouse attacks the blood seems to draw others to the feast.

The albatross “are nearly a meter tall and 250 times the weight of the mice but are largely immobile and cannot defend themselves,” RSPB researcher Richard Cuthbert said in the statement. “Without predators this would not be a problem but for a carnivorous mouse population on one of the wettest and windiest places on earth it is an easy meal of almost unimaginable quality. The result is carnage.”

‘Ecologically naive’ birds
While predation by oversized mice is unusual, birds on small islands are especially vulnerable to extinction from human activities such as the introduction of alien species.

This is because many birds that have evolved on isolated islands with no predators have become what biologists term “ecologically naive” — meaning they do not recognize danger from other animals.

Flightless species — or chicks that cannot yet fly — are especially at risk. The predatory nature of the mice was confirmed by researchers from the RSPB and the University of Cape Town.

Scientists suspect the mice are also eating the eggs and chicks of the rare, ground-nesting Gough bunting, a small finch found nowhere else in the world.

Gough Island is the most southerly of the Tristan da Cunha group. There are 22 bird species nesting on the island of which 20 are seabirds.

Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited.

[RHClarke]

In our neck of the woods we have rats that stand on two feet, steal our money, waste it and then bribe us with it! Beat that!

[Keith Webb]

Originally posted by RHClarke
In our neck of the woods we have rats that stand on two feet, steal our money, waste it and then bribe us with it! Beat that!

LMAO!

We have that strain of rats too! They've just stolen a large amount from me and want stll more. Voracious animals! But who to call for pest control?:

Originally posted by Keith Webb
LMAO!

We have that strain of rats too! They've just stolen a large amount from me and want stll more. Voracious animals! But who to call for pest control?:

Why, you should call on the cast-iron-skillet-frying-pan-armed-and-dangerous-Little-Miss-Ma- of course!

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

Originally posted by RHClarke
In our neck of the woods we have rats that stand on two feet, steal our money, waste it and then bribe us with it! Beat that!

Fling slices of roast beef at 'em, that'll do it. Secondary armament: Yorkshire puddings with gravy! They'll be back across the Ottawa River in no time flat.

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

Originally posted by Keith Webb
But who to call for pest control?:

Well, I've given a lot of thought to this... Ma is a bit psychic (or is that psychotic : )... er, anyway, have her call one of the Old Contemptibles back with his SMLE...

(...on second thought, maybe not, she might unleash him on me. Back to the drawing board)

[Barry Churcher]

Gough Island with MLU's very own Brian Gough. While this island may very well be named after some of his exiled ancestors the only current similarity is the Gough Bunting. They are both ground nesting, only Brian has to desert his normal habitat ( Ontario) and do his summer nesting on another small island in the St. Lawrence. It's current name is irrelevant as it is soon to be renamed Gough Island. The mice Geoff refers to have gained three times their weight while Brian has only doubled in size and the Albatross is flightless while Brian is only flightly
Barry

[DaveCox]

Originally posted by Geoff Winnington-Ball
Secondary armament: Yorkshire puddings with gravy! They'll be back across the Ottawa River in no time flat.

Oh No - the 'dreaded batter pudden hurler of old Bexhill-on-sea' returns from the grave - neheee Neddy oh look,(whilst crossing Ottawa) he's fallen in the water!

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

Henry Crun: Ooh oh, Minnie?
Minnie Bannister: What, what, what, what, what, what?
Henry Crun: Did you hear a gas oven door slam just then?
Minnie Bannister: Don't be silly, Henry, who'd be walking around these cliffs with a gas oven?
Henry Crun: Lady Docker?
Minnie Bannister: Yes, but apart from the obvious ones, who'd want to...
Fx: Whoosh...Splat!
Minnie Bannister: Oooooooooooohohohohohohohohohohoh... Yeuhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Henry Crun: No, I've never heard of him.
Minnie Bannister: Help Henry - I've been struck down from behind. Help.
Henry Crun: Mnk - oh dear dear. Poor Minnie. Police, English Police, Law Guardians...
Minnie Bannister: Not too loud, Henry, they'll hear you.
Henry Crun: Police of the law.
Fx: Police whistle
Fx: Whoosh!
Seagoon: Can I help you, sir?
Henry Crun: Are you a policeman?
Seagoon: No, I'm a constable.
Henry Crun: Oh, what is the difference?
Seagoon: They're spelt differently
Minnie Bannister: Ohhhhhh, help me differently spelt constable.
Seagoon: Oh! What's happened to this dear old silver bearded lady?
Henry Crun: She was struck down from behind.
Seagoon: And not a moment too soon. Congratulations, sir.
Henry Crun: I didn't do it.
Seagoon: Coward, hand back your OBE. Now tell me who did this felonous deed. What's happened to her?
Henry Crun: It's much too dark to see, strike a light.
Seagoon: Not allowed in blackout.
Minnie Bannister: Strike a dark light.
Seagoon: No madam. Madam we daren't. Why, only twenty eight miles across the Channel the Germans are watching this coast.
Henry Crun: Don't you be a silly pilly policeman.
Minnie Bannister: Bravo Henry.
Henry Crun: Pittle Poo.
Minnie Bannister: Pittle Poo. They can't see a match being struck.
Seagoon: Oh, all right.
Fx: Striking Match... Bomb Whistle... Explosion!
Seagoon: Any questions?
Henry Crun: Yes, where are my legs?
Minnie Bannister:Where are my legs?
Seagoon: Now are you aware of the danger of German long range guns?
Henry Crun: Mnk ahh I have it! I've got it, I've got the answer. Just by chance I happen to have on me a box of German matches.
Seagoon: Wonderful, strike one. Ha, they won't fire at their own matches.
Henry Crun: Of course not. Now...
Fx: Match striking... Descending whistle of a bomb... Shell explodes
Henry Crun:... Curse... the British, the British!!!
Seagoon: We tried using a candle, but it wasn't very bright and we daren't light it, so we waited for dawn, and there, in the light of the morning sun, we saw what had struck Miss Bannister. It was... A batter pudding!

[Jon Skagfeld]

Originally posted by Barry Churcher
Gough Island with MLU's very own Brian Gough. While this island may very well be named after some of his exiled ancestors the only current similarity is the Gough Bunting. They are both ground nesting, only Brian has to desert his normal habitat ( Ontario) and do his summer nesting on another small island in the St. Lawrence. It's current name is irrelevant as it is soon to be renamed Gough Island. The mice Geoff refers to have gained three times their weight while Brian has only doubled in size and the Albatross is flightless while Brian is only flightly
Barry

Barry...you beat me to it!

I was pondering quick repartees to the Gough Island reference, and you got there first!

[Bob Moseley (RIP)]

This is a real mouse.
Bob

[Tony Smith]

Originally posted by RHClarke
In our neck of the woods we have rats that stand on two feet, steal our money, waste it and then bribe us with it! Beat that!

Yeah? We have Fat Chicks who are too lazy to move if something bit them on their A****. Some are domesticated and kept as household pets!

[Barry Churcher]

Jon, sorry to have beaten you to it. I was afraid this thread would pass without some kind of comment from someone. I wish you had done it anyway as your forum writing is much more eloquent than mine.

Bob, you are right, that is some mouse. I have only seen one real life in the flesh Aussie and he carried a laptop like the mouse has.
He called it a Mac or something. Is this an Aussie trait? It differs from the British Mac as it wont repel rain. His name was Keith somethingorother.

Cheers,
Barry

[Keith Webb]

Really, Barry?

Was that giant mouse also carrying CMP bits from far away?

As for the British and Aussie-carried Mac, I fear you're not comparing apples with apples!

Anyway, it was a really nice thing for you and Brian to come to meet me at Tronnah airport.

Originally posted by Barry Churcher
Bob, you are right, that is some mouse. I have only seen one real life in the flesh Aussie and he carried a laptop like the mouse has.
He called it a Mac or something. Is this an Aussie trait? It differs from the British Mac as it wont repel rain. His name was Keith somethingorother.

Cheers,
Barry

[Bob Moseley (RIP)]

comparing

Macs obviously don't have Spel Chekkers.

Anonermis

[Bob Moseley (RIP)]

Spel Chekkers.

There is obviously a perverted Moderator out there who is sticking his fickle finger into my pristine posts. WATCH IT!!!

Bob

[Keith Webb]

Gosh, Bob

Could you could be right when you use the plural of moderator...?

Do we need an internal MLU police person?

Originally posted by Keith Webb
Gosh, Bob

Could you could be right when you use the plural of moderator...?

Do we need an internal MLU police person?

Hark ... I hear someone calling me to service!

Have no fear ... is here

[Bob Moseley (RIP)]

Skitch him Kartmann and the Tim Tams will be on the way.

Bob