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| Spring heeled rat astonishes scientists | |
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| Topic Started: Mar 11 2008, 05:52 PM (32 Views) | |
| Kahu | Mar 11 2008, 05:52 PM Post #1 |
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Spring heeled rat astonishes scientists (+vid) By PAUL EASTON - The Dominion Post | Tuesday, 11 March 2008 Landcare Research AIR RAT: A rat with the vertical leap of a basketball player is behind the mysterious disappearance of an experimental poison bait holder. A rat with the vertical leap of a basketball player is behind the mysterious disappearance of an experimental poison bait holder. High Jumping Rat Scientists were baffled at first when the holder vanished from a field trial near Moana on the South Island's West Coast. It was held 45 centimetres off the ground by a fishing line. This was to attract possums while avoiding accidentally killing weka, said Landcare Research toxicologist Penny Fisher. If curious weka pecked at the bait holder it would just swing away from them. Possums, however, could grab the bait with their paws and nibble at it. "They are really quite dextrous," Ms Fisher said. One of the bait holders had disappeared early in the trial. "The fishing line looked like it was cut clean through with a knife." A motion-sensitive camera was set up and the culprit was soon revealed. Footage captured a large ship rat looking up at the bait holder, which was smeared with a tempting paste smelling like peanut butter. Suddenly the rat leaped up on to the bait, grasping it with its paws and trying to gnaw through the line. It tried to get the bait three times, getting visibly tired, before giving up and scampering away. Ms Fisher said though the rat failed, scientists were sure it was behind the previous theft. It survived taking the first holder because it was loaded with non-poison bait for the trials. The trials are supported by the Animal Health Board. Possum poison cannot be dropped by air in areas where weka populations are present. Ms Fisher said a small metal tube would be placed on the fishing line to stop future thefts, but stealing was unlikely to be a widespread problem. "We think it was just a particularly determined rat." |
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2:02 PM Jul 11