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Mouse plague grows to biblical proportions across eastern Australia

theguardian.com

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Re: Mouse plague grows to biblical proportions across eastern Australia

#11

Post by hourislate »

stareatgoats wrote: post #5

This seems to be a recurring occurrence in Australia. China is the other country to experience this with some regularity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouse_plagues_in_Australia Interestingly, Australia was home to another, similar explosion of small mammals with high reproductive rates and no or few natural enemies: The rabbit plagues. This seems however largely to have been contained with the release of several vi…

There is the Dingo, which interesting enough was introduced a few thousand years ago and is not native to Australia. Then some time in the 1800's they introduced 24 rabbits because they thought it would be fun to hunt and that didn't turn out to well. And if that wasn't enough they introduced Camels which now number in the millions. I am wondering what's next?

Re: Mouse plague grows to biblical proportions across eastern Australia

#12

Post by seunosewa »

GavinMcG wrote: post #9
seunosewa wrote: post #8

As an African, my first thought on seeing the pictures was that it’s a shame that the dead mice (that were caught in traps or by dogs) aren’t being used to make pet food or to feed zoo animals after cooking them thoroughly in large pots.

Is there an analogous practice in your region? (Is it also subject to mouse plagues, or is there another way enough rodents are gathered?)

People roast and eat wild rodents like rats as “bush meat” but to my knowledge they don’t eat mice. If we had a plague of mice we would certainly find a way to utilize them.

Re: Mouse plague grows to biblical proportions across eastern Australia

#13

Post by joncrane »

inglor_cz wrote: post #7
joncrane wrote: post #2

When I read that article, all I could think of was this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2Pyu-Cj0gg (In case you're sensitive, it's farmers using pitchforks to turn soil in a fallow or recently harvested field that is ridden with rats, which flushes the rats. There are a handful of ratting dogs milling about which immediately chase and kill the rats. The way they do it is the dog grabs the rat in it's mouth an…

I am weird enough to see an optimalization problem in the video. How many dogs are too many? Obviously, two are better than one, but fifty isn't better than twenty. Just saying. Also, the comment saying "that is why dogs like squeaking toys" is spot on, though the idea is probably uncomfortable to regular dog owners.

You can also tell that some of the dogs are way more "into it" than others. It's a typical pareto distribution. 20% of the dogs are killing 80% of the rats.

Re: Mouse plague grows to biblical proportions across eastern Australia

#15

Post by inglor_cz »

joncrane wrote: post #13
inglor_cz wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am weird enough to see an optimalization problem in the video. How many dogs are too many? Obviously, two are better than one, but fifty isn't better than twenty. Just saying. Also, the comment saying "that is why dogs like squeaking toys" is spot on, though the idea is probably uncomfortable to regular dog owners.

You can also tell that some of the dogs are way more "into it" than others. It's a typical pareto distribution. 20% of the dogs are killing 80% of the rats.

If dogs could organize their own Olympic Games, I do not doubt that rat chasing would qualify as a discipline.

Re: Mouse plague grows to biblical proportions across eastern Australia

#17

Post by daemin »

hourislate wrote: post #11
stareatgoats wrote: post #5

This seems to be a recurring occurrence in Australia. China is the other country to experience this with some regularity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouse_plagues_in_Australia Interestingly, Australia was home to another, similar explosion of small mammals with high reproductive rates and no or few natural enemies: The rabbit plagues. This seems however largely to have been contained with the release of several vi…

There is the Dingo, which interesting enough was introduced a few thousand years ago and is not native to Australia. Then some time in the 1800's they introduced 24 rabbits because they thought it would be fun to hunt and that didn't turn out to well. And if that wasn't enough they introduced Camels which now number in the millions. I am wondering what's next?

You forgot cane toads, foxes, cats, wild pigs/boar, water buffalo, and horses. All are non-native and cause damage to the native animals and environment.

People have introduced a lot of animals for their own purposes which are not native to the continent and are now pests in some way.

Re: Mouse plague grows to biblical proportions across eastern Australia

#18

Post by [deleted] »

hourislate wrote: post #11
stareatgoats wrote: post #5

This seems to be a recurring occurrence in Australia. China is the other country to experience this with some regularity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouse_plagues_in_Australia Interestingly, Australia was home to another, similar explosion of small mammals with high reproductive rates and no or few natural enemies: The rabbit plagues. This seems however largely to have been contained with the release of several vi…

There is the Dingo, which interesting enough was introduced a few thousand years ago and is not native to Australia. Then some time in the 1800's they introduced 24 rabbits because they thought it would be fun to hunt and that didn't turn out to well. And if that wasn't enough they introduced Camels which now number in the millions. I am wondering what's next?

[deleted]

Re: Mouse plague grows to biblical proportions across eastern Australia

#20

Post by aaron695 »

"He said the company's six qualified pilots usually worked in pairs on mice baiting jobs but he had baited 184 hectares with a single drone during one night's operation.

“If you need to drive over it to spread mouse bait, you lose $35 of grain per hectare with wheels running over it,”

https://www.facebook.com/donecommander/

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