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Rat Cunning May Allow For Island Colonization
weighn writes "It was assumed that most rat invasions begin with one or two rats coming ashore from ships. The journal Nature reports that a wild rat, captured and then released on a deserted New Zealand island as part of an experiment, amazed scientists by apparently swimming 400 metres through treacherous open water to reach another island." From the article: "Researchers wanted to know how hard it would be to spot a single invader, and how difficult it would be to capture. Razza had a small radio transmitter attached and was set free on the island. Scientists intended to recapture him within eight weeks, but Razza gave a new meaning to 'rat cunning'. He avoided all the scientists' traps, and after 10 weeks his radio signal failed. 'It would be fair to say that at that point we were worried,' Professor Clout said. The Conservation Department was also worried, as the island had been cleared of rats."
If it's just 1 rat, I wouldn't be too worried. It may be clever, but it can't mate with itself.
Let me guess, the rat was a pregnant female and her offspring will extinct tons of local species. Usually happens when zoologists try that kind of stuff without expecting the unexpected.
On se Internetz nobody noes your German.
Somewhere in the world, Jeff Goldblum weeps...
"Oooooh, ahhh... that's how it always starts. Then later, there's running, and screaming, and standing on top of a stool in the middle of your kitchen waving a broom at Chucky Cheese the 'lone' mouse there. You think a single rat won't cause problems? My friend, if chaos theory has taught me anything... it's that nature will find a way..."
Male rats were discovered to self impregnate after being told "Go F***k yourself!". In yet other news, Darl McBride is pregnant.
--
BMO
He speculated that Razza may have wanted female company.
And I thought some of us were desperate!
EvilCON - Made Famous by
if only they had watched a few episodes of speedy gonzales.. all that research money could have been saved.
You're the rat, see, and you have been placed on a foreign island, and .. well .. rats gotta do what a rats gotta do, and that means go find some love, make more rats, avoid the evil scientists and their probing machines, swim through treacherous sharky waters, get some love..
..
Something for my GPX2 when it arrives next month, perhaps
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
There's an easy fix for this, start placing your island more than 400 meters apart.
Eh, better make it 450 in case you get an olympic level rat... 500 if he's abusing illegal substances.
This version of the article just seems to give a much better sense of "How Ironic, Hilarity Ensues" than the submitted one.
And it includes little details, like they used PENGUINS as bait
I can hear PETA cranking up their war machine.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
"We killed well over 30 of the things. At first they simply waltz out to the feeder and we pegged them with the pellet gun. After a while they knew what the noise of the window opening meant so we had to round the animals up 30-45 minutes before feeding time and open the window. They then figured out the lighting so we learned to shoot in our noral lighting (none in that room). They then figured out where the killing lanes were - itwas kinda funny. You could see them walk right up to the line - almost to the inch - and prepare for the run. In one go get one seed. Unfortunatly for them we are good shots and small running targets are fun - still killed them. Changing food sources was not an option - nothing else around here to eat and they didn't seem to take the hint to move."
That's really something. If you read about guys who try to trap/bait rats, it isn't so different. Their habits are such that they won't fall for the traps -- even if you put in what you think is a tasty treat. I'm not shocked they figured out the kill-zone boundaries!
I've also read that they'll develop a taste for certain foods --- e.g. if they habitually eat spicy food, they'll want spicy food. Also, quite interestingly, they like the foods that humans like. E.g. macraronic and cheese, banannas and Pasta. They hate the foods that we hate: raw vegetables. Fried chicken and pizza they really like! They are very human in their tastes.
http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_law/when_to_
The rats are not "invading"! They're trying to spread democracy!
Great, and what will you send to catch the cat?
This wouldn't be so much of a problem if the scientists simply castrated the thing before the experiment. It would have at least eliminated the shrinkage factor in that cold ocean water.
That island being Australia. Smart rat.
sorry, the only acceptable story goes like this :
Skinner: (Upon finding out that the lizards he wanted to wipe out ate pigeon eggs) Well, I was wrong. The lizards are a godsend.
Lisa: But isn't that a bit short-sighted? What happens when we're overrun by lizards?
Skinner: No problem. We simply unleash wave after wave of Chinese needle snakes. They'll wipe out the lizards.
Lisa: But aren't the snakes even worse?
Skinner: Yes, but we're prepared for that. We've lined up a fabulous type of gorilla that thrives on snake meat.
Lisa: But then we're stuck with gorillas!
Skinner: No, that's the beautiful part. When wintertime rolls around, the gorillas simply freeze to death.
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
Well, now its proven that rats are, indeed, the smartest beings on Earth. This was one of their cruelest experiments on us yet.
Good question. You know, I actually saw two white, talking lab rats (or they might have been mice) the other day. The shorter one, with a big head, appeared to mumble something about taking over the world. Now, with these news and this sighting, I'm starting to get rather worried about the growing intelligence among the rodent fraction of our society. Or maybe not, all I heard the taller one say was just "narf". But we should definitely be wary of them.
Or carried by an unladen swallow...
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
The very best bait for rodents is dry dog food (cat food is also good but they prefer dog food). They will go to any lengths to get to it, probably because of its conveniently-dense proteins and fats. As a side effect, the vitamin K content in dog food is high enough to "immunize" rodents against blood-thinning type poisons. If such poisons aren't working, access to dog food may be the culprit.
:)
Chickens and pigs prey on rodents when they can, tho I'm not sure a pig in your basement is a great improvement over rats in your basement.
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
So a "fake print button" is one that actually prints rather than taking you to another page?
I still don't see why they had to kill it instead of just recapturing it. I mean, after such heroic efforts, it surely deserved better?
That rat gained invaluable combat experience that it would have passed onto others. Taking out this rat became essential if we are to maintain control of these islands.
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