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Preface
In the 80s of the last century, a small island in South Africa was known for the infestation of rats, and decades later, the rat infestation has not been solved, but has reached millions.
In order to solve the ecological environment on the island, the local government is preparing to airdrop 550 tons of rat poison to eliminate rats that are eating seabirds.
Why is the little mouse so a headache? Does rat poison really work?
Information sources:
Guangming Network "Millions of Mice Eat Rare Seabirds!" Preparing for the rodent eradication plan on Marion Island, South Africa"2024-03-18
Rampant rats
In the 80s of the last century, the screams of endangered seabirds broke the tranquility of the island, and there were a lot of corpses lying on the ground.
It all started during World War II, when whale and seal boats passed by, leaving behind the culprit: rats.
Some people may think, what waves can a little mouse make?
Don't underestimate the rats, the great plague in London was caused by rats.
The plague killed nearly eight people and wiped out nearly twenty percent of London's population, having a huge impact on London at the time.
Information sources:
The Paper, "The Plague Siege: Response and Memory of the Great Plague of London in 1665" 2020-02-17
There is a virus called Yersinia pestis that spreads through rats and can have serious consequences if left untreated.
If left untreated, there is a high probability that they will die from the virus in this mouse.
As you can imagine, the rat is terrible, but it is even more terrifying, that is, it is about to eat away the endangered bird species of Marion Island.
In the Indian Ocean between South Africa and Antarctica, this island is a small uninhabited island with excellent congenital climatic conditions, a rich variety of species, and unique geographical conditions, which make it a habitat for nearly 30 species of endangered seabirds.
Among these endangered seabirds is a large seabird species called albatross, which is the largest bird in the world, with wings that can reach up to 3 meters and weigh up to 24 pounds.
The curved beak resembles an eagle's beak, and the legs are not long but thick and powerful.
It's a difficult opponent when you hear it, but it's such a big bird, but it can't escape the ravages of mice.
But the world's largest known rat can reach 91cm in length, weigh more than 8 pounds, and some are even the size of dogs, and it is believed that the Tianao is like an "elephant" in front of it.
Not to mention the tiny house mouses, which have become the "shadows" of these rare birds.
The reproduction ability of mice is extremely strong, a female mouse can conceive three months after birth, pregnant ten times a year, each litter of six to twenty, generally 10 days to open the eyes, 15 days of weaning.
Over time, the number of rats on the island reached a terrifying number, over 1 million!
The cunning rats win by their numerical superiority, and in the face of such a large number of rats, the seabirds are like lambs waiting to be slaughtered waiting for the "judgment" of the rat colony.
Cutting off people's wealth is like killing parents, and rampant rats do this.
Not only do they feed on seabirds, but they also feed on the food of seabirds, which are usually fish
Fish are rich in protein and fat, which is tantamount to cutting off the survival of seabirds.
Endangered seabirds have lived alone on the island for long periods of time and have not evolved defenses against rat attacks.
At that time, the island was facing a serious ecological crisis, but unexpectedly, the local practices almost brought the ecological environment to the brink of collapse......
Wrong way to work
Do rats really have no natural predators? Owls, snakes, but among which cats are most dangerous are famous.......
But why do cats become natural enemies of rats and make rats fearful?
In fact, it is because the cat lacks a substance called taurine, which can make the cat "really blind" at night
The taurine in the mouse can supplement and improve the cat's night market ability, so the cat will catch the mouse.
When humans saw that the environment on the island was so devastated by rats, it was natural for humans to lend a helping hand to nature.
But this move has made the already unstable Marion Island even more shaky.
The arrival of cats caused the rats to run around with their heads, and the number of rats dropped sharply, but just when people thought that the ecological environment was going to return to normal, it was even worse.
Cats have no natural predators here, so they naturally stand at the top of the food chain.
A large amount of food allows cats to reproduce quickly, but the number of mice is limited.
So the cat, who was not satisfied with the status quo, took up the idea of seabirds, and stretched out its claws to the seabirds.
Where have the seabirds seen such a battle, creatures more terrible than rats hunting them?
This is also contrary to the initial idea that there was a desire to protect seabirds and prevent them from declining, but there are fewer and fewer seabirds.
Scientists have to find a way to "get the cats out" from the island, but they also have to think about a deeper question: whether the cats' disappearance will cause the rat population to rebound as quickly as a storm.
But the scientists didn't think so much about it, and mixed a cat with a virus into the cat herd, which only works for cats and does not harm seabirds.
The virus can have irreversible effects on the respiratory tract of cats, but it only spreads between groups of cats, so the number of cats is constantly decreasing.
It seems to be very thoughtful, but with the death of the cat, the mouse has no natural predators, and it has sprung up like a "storm" rebound.
The rats are back, and the island is in a new crisis.
What should researchers do to completely eradicate this alien species this time?
Rat poison extermination program
This brings us to rat poison.
As early as 1958, in order to improve the people's living environment, the mainland launched a huge campaign to "eliminate the four evils."
Rats are known as the first of the four pests, and they have become public enemies because of their rapid reproduction and the spread of diseases.
At this time, a cow man in the mainland stood up, named Qiu Manchu, who was known as "a genius in the field of rodent extermination"
At this critical moment, Qiu Manchu stepped onto the stage of history in this unique way.
The new type of rat extermination artifact he developed was actually achieved by sending the rats to their doors
Information sources:
Baidu Encyclopedia "Qiu Manhoard's much-criticized folk "Rat Exterminator King"
Slowly, people began to accept this new type of rodenticide.
Most of the rats on the market today cause bleeding to death by reducing the thickness of the rat's blood vessels.
There are also acts on the nervous system of mice, causing damage to their central nervous system, and then death, by interfering with nerve conduction, and then inhibiting breathing and heart function, and eventually leading to the death of mice.
Rats not only pose a threat to human health, but also bring great losses to agriculture and society, and in the face of this problem, we need more scientific and innovative ways to solve it.
To solve Marion Island's problems, scientists have developed a new type of rat poison that only targets mice.
This rat poison is the result of countless days and nights of research, and it does not harm seabirds or adversely affect the local ecology.
It is expected that from 2027 onwards, the local government will send six helicopters to drop 500 tons of drugs from the sky over the island.
An adult house mouse can be lethal if it consumes a dose of 3 to 5 grams of rat poison, which is enough to devastate these rats.
They named this project "Marion Rodent Eradication Project", and it cost so much money and material resources to see the determination to eradicate rodents!
Human intervention in the ecological environment
The "Marion Rodent Eradication" program, which exterminated rats, is itself a natural development of human intervention in the natural environment.
If there were no mice on the fishermen's boats at that time, there would be no cats behind them, and the environment on the island would not have been damaged
Sometimes inadvertent actions can change the direction of the ecological environment, triggering a series of dire consequences......
Marion Island is like a secluded free world, where the endangered seabirds are the indigenous people, who have lived here for generations, and may not have expected to welcome an uninvited guest one day......
The arrival of whaling and seal-hunting vessels has brought disaster to Marion Island, undoubtedly causing massive damage to the local natural environment and inadvertent human intervention.
Of course, I didn't realize that inadvertent actions would cause such serious consequences, but the natural environment is like this, and we need to protect it carefully.
Instead of knowing that you have lost and then trying to make up for it, you will find that it is a little late
Take the case of Australia as an example:
In 1859, a farmer brought hares to Australia, and as soon as the hares came to breed quickly, the climate was suitable for them to grow and there were no natural predators, and slowly big problems appeared.
Information sources:
Shangguan News "Rabbits Don't Just Eat Grass by the Nest: The Worst Biological Invasion in Human History"2023-07-26
The increase in the number of hares has caused great damage to the local livestock industry and ecosystem, and although the local government has tried to solve the problem, it has not been effective.
So far, Australia's problems have not been solved!
However, if the rodent eradication program is not implemented on Marion Island, the island's endangered birds will sooner or later become a thing of the past, and the local ecology will be irreversibly damaged
Human intervention has become the right choice to eliminate rats, but will it be the best choice?
The same is true of the island's natural ecology, which is home to countless seabirds and habitats for countless creatures, and the invasion of our invading rats is tantamount to destroying their home
Xiaobian believes that people only need to intervene in the natural ecological environment, or use scientific means to intervene in the protection of the ecological environment
In this way, it will not be counterproductive, and it will even make the ecological environment more and more beautiful and solid.
The key to protecting the environment lies in each of us, and science intervenes in the natural development of nature
At its core, it is to harness the powerful self-regulation capacity of ecosystems to reduce the uncertain impact that human intervention may bring to the natural environment.
The whole world is calling for the protection of the environment, and the protection of nature is also protecting ourselves -
This is our home for survival! Xiaobian here calls on everyone to protect the environment, protect the home we rely on for survival, and do not artificially interfere with the natural evolution of the ecological environment.
Do you think there is a better way to deal with the rat problem on Marion Island, other than human poisoning?
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