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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

#141

Post by yellowapple »

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.

It seems like the pitchforkers are the bottleneck. Probably could be solved with a tractor towing a harrow or plough, provided the dogs know to avoid getting ploughed themselves ;)

Re: Mouse plague grows to biblical proportions across eastern Australia

#143

Post by danieltillett »

VeninVidiaVicii wrote: post #121
danieltillett wrote: post #116

Something I have always found insane is all the regulations and paperwork hurdles around killing mice in labs. Want to kill 10 mice humanely in a lab then you need to fill out a 60 page report, send it off to an ethics committee for their opinion, and then wait 3 months. Want to kill a few hundred million mice in the wild with a poison that will result is a slow and painful death - go for it.

Eh as a PhD student in genetics, the stuff we do to mice is abominable. Researchers give them incurable insufferable cancers to study complex gene interactions. In my first lab, there were even signs on the mouse cages instructing the veterinarians not to administer eye drops even though the eyes were bulging out of their head. These mice are set up for a lifetime of suffering sometimes.

I think you should get out and see what farmers are doing to the wild mice.

Re: Mouse plague grows to biblical proportions across eastern Australia

#144

Post by abstractbarista »

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…

Thanks for sharing this - it is fascinating to see the dogs working together with people. They are very efficient!

Re: Mouse plague grows to biblical proportions across eastern Australia

#145

Post by dredmorbius »

dwaite wrote: post #90
djrogers wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cats are incredibly efficient hunters. I’d venture that 1-2 per household would quickly make a huge difference in the population, although a good number of those would have to be outdoor / barn / feral cats to have along term effect. Disneyland has roughly 400 cats that keep the park largely rodent free, which is a minor miracle given the amount of food there is there.

* Except a few giant rodents they largely stay away from

ROUSes?

Re: Mouse plague grows to biblical proportions across eastern Australia

#146

Post by stretchwithme »

x86_64Ubuntu wrote: post #123
stretchwithme wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some of those folks say they believe in animal rights too. Keeping someone captive and ending their ability to reproduce seems more like abuse than love.

An animal rights activist is also going to take into account the quality of life of birds and other animals that cats slaughter by the billions.

That's the case for putting all predatory animals in zoos and feeding them vegetarian diets. Ending nature as we know it.

Re: Mouse plague grows to biblical proportions across eastern Australia

#147

Post by mncharity »

xeromal wrote: post #115
mncharity wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Years back I worked on a "configure a dog" educational interactive. IIRC, dogs share a common hunting sequence of behaviors, and some of their domesticated diversity stems from being able to genetically adjust the strength of those behaviors. So a retriever for instance, has the "bite hard" and "shake it" dialed down, and the "carry it home" dialed up.

Sounds like an RPG. haha

Interesting analogy. I recently saw outreach content that described rain/snow/hail formation in terms of a cooking recipe (eg, stir hail several times up and down past the frost line until it grows to ...). I wonder what other familiar frames might be used to scaffold understanding?

Some time back I was pondering how one might teach category theory to kids, by presenting it as cross-cutting patterns in everyday life (eg non-zero one-directional movement along a closed finite path eventually comes back around, as in simple board games, a clock's "we missed 12 today, but we can do it at 12 tomorrow", or "oops, passed an open parking spot - drive around the block".)

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