Tiny fossil teeth re-write rodent record

The oldest rodent fossils yet found in South America have been unearthed along the Ucayali River near Contamana, Peru.

The specimens comprise the tiny teeth of mouse-sized and rat-sized animals that lived at least 41 million years ago.

This makes the fossils some 10 million years older than all previous rodent discoveries made on the continent.

An international team of scientists reports the remains in the Royal Society journal Proceedings B.

The researchers describe how the shape of the teeth and other factors point to the ancient animals being most closely related to African rodents.

"As palaeontologists, we're interested in how animals are related to each other, and we do what are called 'phylogenetic analyses'," explained co-author Darin Croft, an anatomy professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, US.

"We did those analyses for our animals and they are very close in the evolutionary tree to African rodents, which suggests that that's where their ancestors came from - from Africa," he told BBC News.

Tiny teeth
Dr Croft and colleagues had to use microscopes to study the teeth, so small were some of them.

Features seen in the dentition suggest the animals probably ate soft seeds and plant parts, just like many small rodents do today.
Read on...
By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15268643

Fossils of Forest Rodents Found in Highland Desert

ScienceDaily (Aug. 4, 2011) — Two new rodent fossils were discovered in the arid highlands of southern Bolivia by researchers from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and Universidad Autónoma Tomás Frías.

The larger of the two rodents, named Mesoprocta hypsodus, probably looked something like a guinea pig on stilts, said Darin Croft, an anatomy professor at Case Western Reserve. The smaller, Quebradahondomys potosiensis, was a spiny rat.


An online article in the Journal of Mammalian Evolution describes the new species, a possible third, and two known species that are new inhabitants to that location.

"The two new species are pretty rare," said Croft. Various teams have been working the Bolivian site, called Quebrada Honda, on and off since the late 1970s. Croft's team has been working there for the past five years and has identified only one fossilized piece of jawbone from each animal.

Croft has been working this remote area, about 12,000 feet above sea level, as well as largely understudied areas in the mountains of northern and central Chile, for 14 years. The research sites are among the highest in the Western Hemisphere.

He and his colleagues have found and documented remains of more than two-dozen new species of mammals, ranging from mouse-sized marsupials to giant armadillos and hoofed, sheep-sized grazers in that time.

Prior research using radiometric and paleomagnetic dating techniques puts the age of the fossils at Quebrada Honda in the range of 12.5 to 13 million years ago.

Though the finds were limited to one fossil each, the teeth provide the telltale features needed to determine their kin and identify them as unique.

Mesoprocta hypsodus is related to agoutis and acouchis, two types of current and common rodents found from Costa Rica to Brazil. Tall, complex teeth are typical of these rodents, which are known for their flatish face, long legs and quickness.

Based on the dimensions of the jawbone and teeth, Croft estimates the extinct rodent was about 18 to 20 inches long, 8 inches to a foot at the shoulder and weighed 8 to 10 pounds.

Croft said that although it probably ate fruits and nuts and spent much of its time foraging among the trees, like its modern relatives, its durable teeth indicate that it may also have ventured into more open areas. Forested habitats no longer exist in the Quebrada Honda area.

Quebradahondomys potosiensis is a rat-sized relative of extant spiny rats, which are mostly tree-dwelling relatives of guinea pigs and chinchillas that have spiny coats and tails that easily break off to help them escape from predators. Currently, spiny rats are found throughout Central America and most of South America.

The molar teeth, which are shaped like a "3" or an "E," are typical of a particular subgroup of spiny rats and indicate the extinct rodent fed on a leafy diet. The researchers say it was at least partially arboreal and may have been living in the same trees among which Mesoprocta hypsodus foraged on the ground.

In addition to the two new species above, Croft's group found a number of fossils from the genus Acarechimys.

The remains indicate the animal was about hamster-sized, lived in rocky or bushy environs and fed on leaves and seeds.

Fossils from the genus have been found from Colombia to the southern tip of Argentina, but close analysis is needed to break them down into species. The researchers hope to work with others to define species found.

The most common fossils at the site are from relatives of chinchillas, all of the genus Prolagostomus. They were found in such high numbers that the researchers believe the animals were highly social and, like some of their current relatives, lived in communities much as prairie dogs do today.

Again, closer analysis of known fossils from here and other locations is needed to determine species. Studies of variation in modern relatives will also aid these studies.

Lastly, the investigators found fossils of Guiomys unica, a relative of the guinea pig. The species, estimated to be about the size of a large rabbit but proportioned like a cat, was previously found only in the Patagonia region of Argentina, well over 1,000 miles away.

The animal was likely a grass and leaf eater that frequented both open and more sheltered habitats, the researchers said.

The group is continuing to analyze other fossils it has found in this and other Bolivian sites. They plan to return to the field next year to continue searching for fossils and a clearer picture of the past.

"We're a step closer to pulling the whole fauna together," Croft said. "I fully expect we'll get some more new stuff in the next few years."

The research is funded by the National Geographic Society and the National Science Foundation.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110804105854.htm

Birch Mouse Ancestor Discovered in Inner Mongolia Is New Species of Rare 'Living Fossil'

Paleontologist Yuri Kimura, Southern Methodist University in Dallas,
identified a new species of birch mice, Sicista primus, from 17 tiny teeth.
A single molar is about the size of half a grain of rice. The teeth, however,
are distinctive among the various genera of rodents known as Dipodidae.
Cusps, valleys, ridges and other distinguishing characteristics on the
surface of the teeth are identifiable through a microscope.
(Credit: Yuri Kimura/Southern Methodist University)

ScienceDaily (May 25, 2011) — Tiny fossil teeth discovered in Inner Mongolia are a new species of birch mouse, indicating that ancestors of the small rodent are much older than previously reported, according to paleontologist Yuri Kimura, Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Fossils of the new species were discovered in sediments that are 17 million years old, said Kimura, who identified the new species and named it Sicista primus to include the Latin word for "first."

Previously the oldest prehistoric ancestor of the modern-day birch mouse was one that inhabited Inner Mongolia 8 million years ago.

Adding 9 million years to the ancestry of the rodent family that includes birch mice and jumping mice distinguishes this genus, Sicista, as a "living fossil," Kimura said. That places the genus among some of the most unique rodents on earth -- those whose ancestry spans 2 to 3 times the average, she said.

Kimura identified Sicista primus from 17 tiny teeth, whose size makes them difficult to find. A single molar is about the size of half a grain of rice. The teeth, however, are distinctive among the various genera of rodents known as Dipodidae. Cusps, valleys, ridges and other distinguishing characteristics on the surface of the teeth are identifiable through a microscope.

"We are very lucky to have these," Kimura said. "Paleontologists usually look for bones, but a mouse is very tiny and its bones are very thin and fragile. The teeth, however, are preserved by enamel. Interestingly, small mammal teeth are very diverse in terms of their structure, so from that we can identify a species."

Kimura reported the new species in the scientific journal Naturwissenschaften. Images of the research and expedition are posted on the SMU Research flickr site (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52146845@N06/sets/72157626764403486/). SMUVideo's "Inner Mongolia yields 'living fossil'" featuring Kimura discussing the research is available on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khkx11WlKaw).

An SMU doctoral student in the Huffington Department of Earth Sciences, Kimura was part of the international team that discovered the fossils during expeditions to Inner Mongolia in 2004, 2005 and 2007.

Microscopic evidence of a living fossil

The new fossils of Sicista primus from the Early Miocene age are also now the earliest known record of Sicista, the birch mouse genus that comprises 13 modern and 7 fossil species, said Kimura. As a result, Sicista now boasts the most ancient ancestry of the 326 genera in the largest rodent suborder to which it belongs, Myomorpha. The suborder includes laboratory mice and rats.

"The birch mouse is a rare case of a small mammal genus persisting from the Early Miocene without significant morphological changes," Kimura said in reporting the findings.

Rodents, both modern and prehistoric, rank as the most prolific mammals on earth. After the reign of dinosaurs, 65 million years ago, rodents evolved and dispersed worldwide during the Cenozoic, the "Age of Mammals." They comprise about 42 percent of all living mammals. Scientists know now that only 1.5 percent of modern rodent genera, however, go as far back as the Early Miocene or older.

"Diversity within a rodent genus is not unusual, but the long record of the genus Sicista, first recognized at 17 million years ago, is unusual," said Kimura. "The discovery of Early Miocene S. primus reveals that Sicista is fundamental to understanding how a long-lived genus persisted among substantially fast-evolving rodent groups."

Birch mice migrated from Asia to North America

Previously the record for the oldest species of Sicista belonged to an 8 million-year-old species identified in Eurasia, Kimura said.

In identifying the new species, Kimura also reverses the long-held hypothesis that ancestors of birch mice migrated from North America to Asia. That hypothesis has been based on a 14.8 million-year-old specimen from South Dakota, which was identified in 1977 as the separate rodent genus Macrognathomys. Kimura's analysis, however, concludes that Macrognathomys is actually Sicista. For that reason, she concluded, Sicista first inhabited the forests and grasslands of prehistoric Asia and then dispersed to North America via the Bering Land Bridge, Kimura said.

In a comparison of the molars and premolars from Macrognathomys and Sicista primus, Kimura reported finding 12 shared dental characteristics. In addition, phylogenetic analysis to identify evolutionary relationships indicated that both belong to the same genus, Sicista, she said.

Reconnaissance of earlier Central Asiatic Expedition localities yields small mammals

The teeth of Sicista primus were discovered in fine sediments gathered from Gashunyinadege, a fossil locality in the central region of Inner Mongolia.

Gashunyinadege is one of several fossil localities near Tunggur, a fossil site discovered in the 1920s by the Central Asiatic Expedition, which was led by Roy Chapman Andrews from the American Museum of Natural History.

Kimura is a member of an international scientific team sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. The team's expeditions have been led by paleontologists Qiu Zhuding, IVPP; Wang Xiaoming, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County; and Li Qiang, IVPP. Their expeditions retrace important classic localities, as well as prospect new fossil localities.

Kimura and other members of the team discovered the birch mouse fossils by first prospecting Gashunyinadege for small mammal fossils visible to the naked eye. Those fossils indicated the possibility of even smaller mammal fossils, so the team gathered 6,000 kilograms, more than 13,000 pounds, of Early Miocene sediment. Using standing water from recent rains, they washed the sediments repeatedly through continually smaller screens to separate out small fossils. Bags of concentrate containing particles the size of mouse teeth were returned to IVPP laboratories to hunt for fossils with a microscope.

The research was funded by the Institute for the Study of Earth and Man at SMU, Dallas Paleontological Society, Geological Society of America, Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110524153420.htm

Rats On Plane Ground Qantas Jet In Sydney

By SARAH DiLORENZO
06/ 1/11 11:32 PM ET

SYDNEY -- A flight crew checking the cabin of a Qantas plane before takeoff found rats in a compartment holding medical equipment, grounding the plane for more than a day, a spokeswoman said Thursday.

Crews did a visual check of the plane Tuesday afternoon and found no more rats or any damage. The rodents had been in a cabinet holding a defibrillator. The plane returned to service Thursday morning.

Passengers had not yet boarded the Sydney-to-Brisbane flight and were instead put on another plane.

A Qantas spokeswoman called the incident "very unusual." She declined to be named, citing policy.

But Scott Connolly of the Transportation Workers Union told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio on Thursday that members have had concerns about hygiene and sanitation on Qantas flights.

The spokeswoman denied that was the case. "This is a very irregular occurrence," she said.

Qantas, Australia's national carrier, has experienced a series of troubles in recent months, including an engine explosion and forced landings.

Earlier this week, a Qantas flight from Dallas, Texas, to Australia made an unscheduled stop on a Pacific island after pilots feared they might run out of fuel because of strong headwinds. The Qantas spokeswoman said the airline was committed to the route – which is new and one of the world's longest for Boeing 747 jets.

http://weirdnews.aol.com/2011/06/02/rats-on-plane-australia_n_870189.html

Pizza shop owner arraigned for ‘terrorism by mice’

Published: Tuesday, March 01, 2011
By LYN A.E. McCAFFERTY
Times Correspondent

UPPER DARBY – The pizza shop owner facing charges for allegedly planting mice in two of his competitors' shops was arraigned on multiple misdemeanor charges Tuesday morning.

Nickolas Galiatsatos – owner of Nina's Bella Pizzeria at 8445 West Chester Pike in Upper Darby – appeared before Magisterial District Judge Michael G. Cullen just before 9 a.m. wearing jeans, socks but no shoes, and a black t-shirt with the phrase "I'm just one big (symbols for an expletive) ray of sunshine."

Galiatsatos, 47, of the 1000 block of Conestoga Road, Bryn Mawr, was released on $10,000 unsecured bail.

He declined to comment as he left the courthouse.

Cullen also ordered him to undergo a psychological evaluation within 10 days and surrender any weapons.

According to police, Galiatsatos was carrying several bullets in his pocket when he was arrested Monday afternoon, and he informed police he had a .357 handgun at his shop, which has been surrendered to police.

Galiatsatos is charged with cruelty to animals, criminal mischief, harassment and disorderly conduct stemming from incidents at two competing pizza shops.

He allegedly put a bag of live mice in a pizzeria on the 8900 block of West Chester Pike, and then allegedly did the same at another nearby pizzeria on the 9000 block West Chester Pike, police said.

More: http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2011/03/01/news/doc4d6c7637da1b9046528743.txt?viewmode=fullstory

Feel the force: Tube-nosed bat which bears striking resemblance to Yoda discovered as scientists find hundreds of new species

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 2:16 PM on 9th October 2010

A tube-nosed fruit bat with an appearance reminiscent of the Star Wars Jedi Master Yoda has been discovered in a remote rainforest.

The bat, along with an orange spider and a yellow-spotted frog are among a host of new species found in a region of Papua New Guinea.

More than 200 animals and plants were revealed for the first time after two months of surveying in the rugged and little-explored Nakanai and Muller mountain ranges last year.

The findings included two mammals, 24 species of frog, nine plants, nearly 100 new insects including damselflies, crickets and ants, and around 100 spiders.

A white tipped-tail mouse, at least one ant and several of the crickets, or katydids, are so different from other known species they each represent an entirely new genus, the scientists said.

They were uncovered by two scientific teams co-ordinated by Conservation International's rapid assessment programme, in partnership with Papua New Guinea's Institute for Biological Research and conservation organisation A Rocha International.

The teams explored different altitudes of the forest-cloaked Nakanai mountains, which host cave systems and some of the world's largest underground rivers, and the Muller range, accessing the remote areas by plane, dinghy, on foot and even by helicopter.

In the Nakanai surveys, scientists discovered a beautiful yellow-spotted frog found only high up in the mountains, the mouse with the white-tipped tail and the tiny 2cm frog which calls for a mate in the afternoon - unlike most frogs in the area which call at night.

In the Muller range, researchers found what they described as a 'spectacular variety' of insects, spiders and frogs.

One of the newly-discovered katydids has exceptionally long, spiny hind legs which it uses to jab at anything that threatens it, one new species has pink eyes and another has emerald-green patterning.

Leeanne Alonso, Conservation International's rapid assessment programme director said the discoveries made in both surveys were incredibly significant.

'While very encouraging, these discoveries do not mean that our global biodiversity is out of the woods,' she said.

'On the contrary, they should serve as a cautionary message about how much we still don't know about Earth's still hidden secrets and important natural resources, which we can only preserve with co-ordinated, long-term management.'

Dr Martin Kaonga, interim director of science and conservation at A Rocha International, said: 'It's very important we find these species, because it's only when you know what species exist in an area that you may be in a position to understand how to manage that given area.'

He also said species may have uses, for example as medicines, and that there was a need to raise understanding among local people of the value of the wildlife found in their forests.

Meanwhile, several new discoveries in South-East Asia’s Mekong river are also causing a stir.

A fish with curving vampire fangs, a gecko that looks as if it's wearing lipstick and a carnivorous plant more than 7m high may sound like creatures from a nightmare but they are real.

They are just three of 145 new species found in the area in 2009 and highlighted in a WWF International report issued today, ahead of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in Nagoya, Japan, this month.

The diversity of the region, so rich that an average of three new species were discovered each week last year, also highlights the need for action to ensure these new finds survive, WWF International said.

Among the animals highlighted in New Blood: Greater Mekong New Species Discoveries 2009’ is the Dracula minnow, with bulging eyes and two sharp fangs curving from its low-slung jaw. Luckily, the fish only grows to a maximum of 16.7 mm.

More attractive by far is the lipstick gecko, barely big enough to perch on a finger, with a dark barred pattern across its lips suggestive of cosmetics.

Other featured creatures include a fangless snake, a frog that chirps like a cricket, and a pitcher plant that traps insects and grows to a height of over seven metres.

‘This rate of discovery is simply staggering in modern times," said Stuart Chapman, Conservation Director of WWF Greater Mekong, in a statement.

‘Each year, the new species count keeps going up, and with it, so too does the responsibility to ensure this region's unique biodiversity is conserved.’

The report said these discoveries highlight the Greater Mekong's immense biodiversity but they also pinpoint the fragility of the region's diverse habitats and species.

The WWF report cited the likely local extinction of the Javan rhino in Vietnam as one tragic indicator of the decline of biodiversity in recent times.

The Greater Mekong region covers Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and the southern Chinese province of Yunnan.

See more photos at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1318093/Bat-resembling-Star-Wars-Yoda-discovered-Papua-New-Guinea-rainforest.html

Feel the force: Tube-nosed bat which bears striking resemblance to Yoda discovered as scientists find hundreds of new species

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 2:16 PM on 9th October 2010

A tube-nosed fruit bat with an appearance reminiscent of the Star Wars Jedi Master Yoda has been discovered in a remote rainforest.

The bat, along with an orange spider and a yellow-spotted frog are among a host of new species found in a region of Papua New Guinea.

More than 200 animals and plants were revealed for the first time after two months of surveying in the rugged and little-explored Nakanai and Muller mountain ranges last year.

The findings included two mammals, 24 species of frog, nine plants, nearly 100 new insects including damselflies, crickets and ants, and around 100 spiders.

A white tipped-tail mouse, at least one ant and several of the crickets, or katydids, are so different from other known species they each represent an entirely new genus, the scientists said.

They were uncovered by two scientific teams co-ordinated by Conservation International's rapid assessment programme, in partnership with Papua New Guinea's Institute for Biological Research and conservation organisation A Rocha International.

The teams explored different altitudes of the forest-cloaked Nakanai mountains, which host cave systems and some of the world's largest underground rivers, and the Muller range, accessing the remote areas by plane, dinghy, on foot and even by helicopter.

In the Nakanai surveys, scientists discovered a beautiful yellow-spotted frog found only high up in the mountains, the mouse with the white-tipped tail and the tiny 2cm frog which calls for a mate in the afternoon - unlike most frogs in the area which call at night.

In the Muller range, researchers found what they described as a 'spectacular variety' of insects, spiders and frogs.

One of the newly-discovered katydids has exceptionally long, spiny hind legs which it uses to jab at anything that threatens it, one new species has pink eyes and another has emerald-green patterning.

Leeanne Alonso, Conservation International's rapid assessment programme director said the discoveries made in both surveys were incredibly significant.

'While very encouraging, these discoveries do not mean that our global biodiversity is out of the woods,' she said.

'On the contrary, they should serve as a cautionary message about how much we still don't know about Earth's still hidden secrets and important natural resources, which we can only preserve with co-ordinated, long-term management.'

Dr Martin Kaonga, interim director of science and conservation at A Rocha International, said: 'It's very important we find these species, because it's only when you know what species exist in an area that you may be in a position to understand how to manage that given area.'

He also said species may have uses, for example as medicines, and that there was a need to raise understanding among local people of the value of the wildlife found in their forests.

Meanwhile, several new discoveries in South-East Asia’s Mekong river are also causing a stir.

A fish with curving vampire fangs, a gecko that looks as if it's wearing lipstick and a carnivorous plant more than 7m high may sound like creatures from a nightmare but they are real.

They are just three of 145 new species found in the area in 2009 and highlighted in a WWF International report issued today, ahead of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in Nagoya, Japan, this month.

The diversity of the region, so rich that an average of three new species were discovered each week last year, also highlights the need for action to ensure these new finds survive, WWF International said.

Among the animals highlighted in New Blood: Greater Mekong New Species Discoveries 2009’ is the Dracula minnow, with bulging eyes and two sharp fangs curving from its low-slung jaw. Luckily, the fish only grows to a maximum of 16.7 mm.

More attractive by far is the lipstick gecko, barely big enough to perch on a finger, with a dark barred pattern across its lips suggestive of cosmetics.

Other featured creatures include a fangless snake, a frog that chirps like a cricket, and a pitcher plant that traps insects and grows to a height of over seven metres.

‘This rate of discovery is simply staggering in modern times," said Stuart Chapman, Conservation Director of WWF Greater Mekong, in a statement.

‘Each year, the new species count keeps going up, and with it, so too does the responsibility to ensure this region's unique biodiversity is conserved.’

The report said these discoveries highlight the Greater Mekong's immense biodiversity but they also pinpoint the fragility of the region's diverse habitats and species.

The WWF report cited the likely local extinction of the Javan rhino in Vietnam as one tragic indicator of the decline of biodiversity in recent times.

The Greater Mekong region covers Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and the southern Chinese province of Yunnan.

See more photos at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1318093/Bat-resembling-Star-Wars-Yoda-discovered-Papua-New-Guinea-rainforest.html

A Third of ‘Extinct’ Mammals May Still Be Alive

By Brian Switek
September 29, 2010

There may be many more “extinct” mammals waiting to be rediscovered than conservation biologists previously thought.

Categorizing a mammal species as extinct has rested upon two criteria: It has not been seen for more than 50 years, or an exhaustive search has come up empty. But “extinct” species occasionally turn up again, and some species have disappeared more than once. Australia’s desert rat kangaroo, for example, was rediscovered in 1931 after having gone missing for almost a century, only to disappear again in 1935 when invasive red foxes moved into the area of the remaining survivors.

In order to determine how often extinct species had been rediscovered, University of Queensland scientists Diana Fisher and Simon Blomberg created a dataset of 187 mammal species that have been reported extinct, extinct in the wild, or probably extinct since 1500, as well as those which have been rediscovered. They also looked at historical data on the threats that caused species to become extinct — or brought them close to it — including habitat loss, introduced species and overkill by humans.

It turns out that rumors of the extinction of more than a third of these species have turned out to be premature, the scientists report in Proceedings of the Royal Society B Sept. 29. At least 67 species — a little more than a third of those presumed to be extinct — were later found again. And in most cases, these were animals that had been hardest hit by habitat loss.

Humans and invasive species have been significantly more efficient killers. It’s rare that a species reported extinct due to one of these causes has been seen again.

“If you think that a missing species is extinct and the main cause of decline was introduced predators such as feral foxes, cats or rats, then you are very likely to be right,” Fisher said. But, she added, “If the main cause of decline was habitat loss, you are quite likely to be wrong if you say that it’s extinct, unless it was restricted to a very small area.”

As an example, Fisher cites the Malabar civet, which was thought to be extinct due to habitat loss in 1929 but survived in marginal areas at least until 1987 when it was last seen on a cashew plantation. Unfortunately, that animal was killed by villagers, and no more have been seen since.

The team found species that were relatively sparsely distributed over a larger range were more likely to turn up again. But mammals of any particular evolutionary group or body size weren’t more likely to be rediscovered.

“I was a little bit surprised that body size was not important,” Fisher said. “I thought that small species might not be found so often, because they don’t attract much attention, but that wasn’t the case.”

With these findings in hand, conservation biologists may be better able to target species that are more likely to still be out there somewhere. While species hunted into extinction — such as the Stellar’s sea cow — are almost certainly gone forever, individuals of other species may still exist. Whether we find them again or not seems to be directly influenced by how hard we look.

According to Fisher and Blomberg, one or two searches for a missing species aren’t likely to succeed, but missing species that were the subject of three to six searches have often been rediscovered. Chances do not continue to get better past this point, though. Species that have been the subject of more than 11 searches, such as the Tasmanian tiger  and the Yangtze dolphin, have not been found.

We may hope for the rediscovery of such charismatic species, but the chances of finding some of the lesser-known species that haven’t been looked for yet are significantly better. Among the good candidates for rediscovery Fisher lists are the Montane monkey-faced bat of the Solomon Islands, last seen on Guadalcanal in 1990, and Alcom’s pocket gopher, which was abundant in a high-elevation forest in Mexico in the late 1990’s but hasn’t been seen since.

“We should be trying to protect the habitat of recently extinct species,” Fisher said. “But this is not easy, because we don’t know where they might be rediscovered. It is not necessarily near where the species was last seen.”

Gilbert’s potoroo, for example, disappeared sometime around 1879 but was rediscovered in 1994 at Two People’s Bay in Australia in a reserve that had been set up to protect an endangered bird. Because many rediscovered species had populations that were spread over a wide area, ecologists have a lot of ground to cover in their search for “extinct” mammals. 

Images: 1) Desert rat kangaroo. John Gould/Wikimedia Commons. 2) Tasmanian tiger. Smithsonian Institution/Wikimedia Commons. 3) Gilbert’s potoroo. John Gould/Wikimedia Commons.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/09/a-third-of-extinct-mammals-may-still-be-alive/#ixzz11g8oHt8h

A Third of ‘Extinct’ Mammals May Still Be Alive

By Brian Switek
September 29, 2010

There may be many more “extinct” mammals waiting to be rediscovered than conservation biologists previously thought.

Categorizing a mammal species as extinct has rested upon two criteria: It has not been seen for more than 50 years, or an exhaustive search has come up empty. But “extinct” species occasionally turn up again, and some species have disappeared more than once. Australia’s desert rat kangaroo, for example, was rediscovered in 1931 after having gone missing for almost a century, only to disappear again in 1935 when invasive red foxes moved into the area of the remaining survivors.

In order to determine how often extinct species had been rediscovered, University of Queensland scientists Diana Fisher and Simon Blomberg created a dataset of 187 mammal species that have been reported extinct, extinct in the wild, or probably extinct since 1500, as well as those which have been rediscovered. They also looked at historical data on the threats that caused species to become extinct — or brought them close to it — including habitat loss, introduced species and overkill by humans.

It turns out that rumors of the extinction of more than a third of these species have turned out to be premature, the scientists report in Proceedings of the Royal Society B Sept. 29. At least 67 species — a little more than a third of those presumed to be extinct — were later found again. And in most cases, these were animals that had been hardest hit by habitat loss.

Humans and invasive species have been significantly more efficient killers. It’s rare that a species reported extinct due to one of these causes has been seen again.

“If you think that a missing species is extinct and the main cause of decline was introduced predators such as feral foxes, cats or rats, then you are very likely to be right,” Fisher said. But, she added, “If the main cause of decline was habitat loss, you are quite likely to be wrong if you say that it’s extinct, unless it was restricted to a very small area.”

As an example, Fisher cites the Malabar civet, which was thought to be extinct due to habitat loss in 1929 but survived in marginal areas at least until 1987 when it was last seen on a cashew plantation. Unfortunately, that animal was killed by villagers, and no more have been seen since.

The team found species that were relatively sparsely distributed over a larger range were more likely to turn up again. But mammals of any particular evolutionary group or body size weren’t more likely to be rediscovered.

“I was a little bit surprised that body size was not important,” Fisher said. “I thought that small species might not be found so often, because they don’t attract much attention, but that wasn’t the case.”

With these findings in hand, conservation biologists may be better able to target species that are more likely to still be out there somewhere. While species hunted into extinction — such as the Stellar’s sea cow — are almost certainly gone forever, individuals of other species may still exist. Whether we find them again or not seems to be directly influenced by how hard we look.

According to Fisher and Blomberg, one or two searches for a missing species aren’t likely to succeed, but missing species that were the subject of three to six searches have often been rediscovered. Chances do not continue to get better past this point, though. Species that have been the subject of more than 11 searches, such as the Tasmanian tiger  and the Yangtze dolphin, have not been found.

We may hope for the rediscovery of such charismatic species, but the chances of finding some of the lesser-known species that haven’t been looked for yet are significantly better. Among the good candidates for rediscovery Fisher lists are the Montane monkey-faced bat of the Solomon Islands, last seen on Guadalcanal in 1990, and Alcom’s pocket gopher, which was abundant in a high-elevation forest in Mexico in the late 1990’s but hasn’t been seen since.

“We should be trying to protect the habitat of recently extinct species,” Fisher said. “But this is not easy, because we don’t know where they might be rediscovered. It is not necessarily near where the species was last seen.”

Gilbert’s potoroo, for example, disappeared sometime around 1879 but was rediscovered in 1994 at Two People’s Bay in Australia in a reserve that had been set up to protect an endangered bird. Because many rediscovered species had populations that were spread over a wide area, ecologists have a lot of ground to cover in their search for “extinct” mammals. 

Images: 1) Desert rat kangaroo. John Gould/Wikimedia Commons. 2) Tasmanian tiger. Smithsonian Institution/Wikimedia Commons. 3) Gilbert’s potoroo. John Gould/Wikimedia Commons.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/09/a-third-of-extinct-mammals-may-still-be-alive/#ixzz11g8oHt8h

Scientists discover 200 new wildlife species in Papua New Guinea

Wednesday, October 6th, 2010

Scientists have discovered a staggering 200 new species of wildlife on the remote islands of Papua New Guinea – including an entirely new white-tailed mouse.

The ”incredibly significant” find includes 24 new species of frogs, two new mammals, nine plants, nearly 100 insects including damselflies, katydids and ants, and 100 new spiders.

They were discovered on the remote Papua New Guinea island of New Britain and the Southern Highlands ranges in the central mainland.

The locations are so isolated scientists could only access the rugged, forest-cloaked sites by a combination of small plane, helicopter, dinghy and foot.

One of the most interesting discoveries is the ”distinctive” white tip tailed mouse spotted 1,590 metres above sea level in the Nakanai mountain range.

The cute rodent has no known close relatives and represents an entirely new living organism.

Other new discoveries include several katydids and at least one ant which are so different from any known species that they represent entirely new genera.

The searches were conducted in September 2009 as part of Conservation International’s global efforts to document the biodiversity of poorly known but species-rich environments and raise their profile.

Leeanne (corr) Alonso of Conservation International said: ”There’s no question that the discoveries we made in both surveys are incredibly significant both for the large numbers of new species recorded, and the new genera identified.

”These discoveries should serve as a cautionary message about how much we still don’t know about Earth’s still hidden secrets and important natural resources.”

Papua New Guinea’s jungles are, alongside the Amazon and Congo, one of only three rainforests left in the world and one of the best sources for new discoveries.

In 2006, a team came discovered a creature called Berlepsch’s six-wired bird of paradise, named after the six spines on the top of its head. It was thought the bird had been lost to science having only previously been identified from the feathers of dead birds.

Last year scientists from Britain discovered the giant Bosavi woolly rat which showed no fear of humans and, at 82cm long, is among the world’s largest rats.

More photos at: http://swns.com/scientists-discover-200-new-wildlife-species-in-papua-new-guinea-061149.html

See also: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.1e1a9fce48fee772c40344d3f21d3cc9.31&show_article=1 (submitted by Richie West) plus various other sources.

Scientists discover 200 new wildlife species in Papua New Guinea

Wednesday, October 6th, 2010

Scientists have discovered a staggering 200 new species of wildlife on the remote islands of Papua New Guinea – including an entirely new white-tailed mouse.

The ”incredibly significant” find includes 24 new species of frogs, two new mammals, nine plants, nearly 100 insects including damselflies, katydids and ants, and 100 new spiders.

They were discovered on the remote Papua New Guinea island of New Britain and the Southern Highlands ranges in the central mainland.

The locations are so isolated scientists could only access the rugged, forest-cloaked sites by a combination of small plane, helicopter, dinghy and foot.

One of the most interesting discoveries is the ”distinctive” white tip tailed mouse spotted 1,590 metres above sea level in the Nakanai mountain range.

The cute rodent has no known close relatives and represents an entirely new living organism.

Other new discoveries include several katydids and at least one ant which are so different from any known species that they represent entirely new genera.

The searches were conducted in September 2009 as part of Conservation International’s global efforts to document the biodiversity of poorly known but species-rich environments and raise their profile.

Leeanne (corr) Alonso of Conservation International said: ”There’s no question that the discoveries we made in both surveys are incredibly significant both for the large numbers of new species recorded, and the new genera identified.

”These discoveries should serve as a cautionary message about how much we still don’t know about Earth’s still hidden secrets and important natural resources.”

Papua New Guinea’s jungles are, alongside the Amazon and Congo, one of only three rainforests left in the world and one of the best sources for new discoveries.

In 2006, a team came discovered a creature called Berlepsch’s six-wired bird of paradise, named after the six spines on the top of its head. It was thought the bird had been lost to science having only previously been identified from the feathers of dead birds.

Last year scientists from Britain discovered the giant Bosavi woolly rat which showed no fear of humans and, at 82cm long, is among the world’s largest rats.

More photos at: http://swns.com/scientists-discover-200-new-wildlife-species-in-papua-new-guinea-061149.html

See also: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.1e1a9fce48fee772c40344d3f21d3cc9.31&show_article=1 (submitted by Richie West) plus various other sources.

Firm fined after dead mouse found in loaf of bread

27 September 2010

A food production company was ordered to pay nearly £17,000 after a man found a dead mouse in a loaf of bread as he made sandwiches for his children.

Stephen Forse, of Kidlington, Oxfordshire, had already used some slices when he came across the mouse.

Mr Forse purchased the loaf online, through a Tesco branch in Bicester in January 2009.

Premier Foods was fined £5,500 and ordered to pay £11,109.47 in costs at Oxford Crown Court.

In July, the company, which makes Hovis bread, Branston pickle and Bisto gravy, admitted to having failed to maintain acceptable standards at its British Bakeries site in London.

Mr Forse said he had already used some of the bread when he noticed "a dark-coloured object embedded in the corner of three or four slices".

"Initially I thought it was where the dough had not mixed properly prior to baking," he said.

"As I looked closer I saw that the object had fur on it."

Mr Forse said he continued to prepare some sandwiches for his children and their friends from another loaf of bread.

"I checked carefully each slice in turn as I felt quite shaken," he added.

"As I was feeling ill I couldn't face eating anything myself. I sat with the children as they ate theirs."
Tail missing

Mr Forse contacted Cherwell District Council and environmental health officers visited the family's home to collect evidence.

During the visit one of them identified it as a mouse minus its tail.

"Her comments made me feel ill once again as there was no indication as to where the tail was," added Mr Forse.

"Had it fallen off prior to the bread being wrapped or had any of my family eaten it with another slice of bread on a previous day?"

A spokesman for Premier Foods said: "We apologise profusely for the distress caused as a result of this isolated incident.

"As soon as this complaint was made we stopped all bakery production at that site and appointed an independent specialist contractor to conduct a thorough investigation.

"They confirmed this to be an isolated incident, affecting a single product.

"There was no evidence of mice within the bakery and no history of any similar issues."

The spokesman added that the council had agreed "the bakery was a well-managed site and that Premier Foods took its obligations for health and hygiene seriously".

See video at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-11419498

Firm fined after dead mouse found in loaf of bread

27 September 2010

A food production company was ordered to pay nearly £17,000 after a man found a dead mouse in a loaf of bread as he made sandwiches for his children.

Stephen Forse, of Kidlington, Oxfordshire, had already used some slices when he came across the mouse.

Mr Forse purchased the loaf online, through a Tesco branch in Bicester in January 2009.

Premier Foods was fined £5,500 and ordered to pay £11,109.47 in costs at Oxford Crown Court.

In July, the company, which makes Hovis bread, Branston pickle and Bisto gravy, admitted to having failed to maintain acceptable standards at its British Bakeries site in London.

Mr Forse said he had already used some of the bread when he noticed "a dark-coloured object embedded in the corner of three or four slices".

"Initially I thought it was where the dough had not mixed properly prior to baking," he said.

"As I looked closer I saw that the object had fur on it."

Mr Forse said he continued to prepare some sandwiches for his children and their friends from another loaf of bread.

"I checked carefully each slice in turn as I felt quite shaken," he added.

"As I was feeling ill I couldn't face eating anything myself. I sat with the children as they ate theirs."
Tail missing

Mr Forse contacted Cherwell District Council and environmental health officers visited the family's home to collect evidence.

During the visit one of them identified it as a mouse minus its tail.

"Her comments made me feel ill once again as there was no indication as to where the tail was," added Mr Forse.

"Had it fallen off prior to the bread being wrapped or had any of my family eaten it with another slice of bread on a previous day?"

A spokesman for Premier Foods said: "We apologise profusely for the distress caused as a result of this isolated incident.

"As soon as this complaint was made we stopped all bakery production at that site and appointed an independent specialist contractor to conduct a thorough investigation.

"They confirmed this to be an isolated incident, affecting a single product.

"There was no evidence of mice within the bakery and no history of any similar issues."

The spokesman added that the council had agreed "the bakery was a well-managed site and that Premier Foods took its obligations for health and hygiene seriously".

See video at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-11419498

In search of the giant rat

Are plagues of huge rats really overrunning the UK? There was only one way to find out…

Emine Saner
guardian.co.uk,
Sunday 19 September 2010 20.30 BST

Mac Hussain disappears into the undergrowth. "Mind out, there's broken glass there," comes his voice from the other side of some brambles. Between short rain breaks in the sodden sky, we are on the hunt for giant rats. There are thought to be at least four here – well that's what Brandon Goddard told the Sun recently, after it ran a picture of him holding a giant rat he claimed to have shot on this Bradford estate. "The first went right past but we got the second one. Then three more got away," Goddard, who lives in nearby Wakefield, told the paper. "This one I shot was absolutely terrifying. I was shaking. Goodness knows where the others went."

Thankfully, there is no sign of them now – but if you heard that a Sun reporter and a man with an air rifle were on your tail, would you hang around? We poke about in the undergrowth on a bit of wasteland. "Ideal place for rats, this," says Hussain. He has been a pest controller for 12 years. "There has been so much rain over the last few weeks that it will have had an effect, physically pushing the rats out of the sewer system."

Last month, Yorkshire Water warned of just such an increase in the number of rats in Bradford. The company, which baits around 100,000 of its manholes, reported a rise in "takes" (poison disappearing from bait boxes). A spokes-man put this down to households and food businesses pouring cooking oil down the drains, where it congeals in the sewers and the rats feed on it.

"I think the numbers are increasing," says Hussain. "I'm certainly getting more calls." He thinks several factors are at work: "Bin collections are getting less regular, there are more takeaways opening, and people throw so much food away now. The [rats'] size does seem to be getting bigger compared to when I started out."

But he is not convinced that so-called giant rats exist. "If you get a well-fed rat, it can be 15 inches – plus the tail can be seven or eight inches. And people always think a rat is bigger than it is. I get a panicky call from someone saying they've seen a huge rat, and it turns out to be a mouse." The biggest rat Hussain has ever caught was 14 inches (not including the tail). "If you stretched it out, you could probably get it to two feet."

Every year there are stories of towns and villages that are supposedly "rat infested". This summer it was Haltwhistle in Northumberland. Last year, it was Flamborough in Yorkshire and two unidentified Berkshire towns that were becoming "overrun". A woman, who asks not to be named, stops to watch. "I think it's a load of rubbish," she says. "I've been here four years and never seen a giant rat. It's wrong to say we're being invaded."

There was some speculation that the giant rat Goddard claimed to have shot was actually a coypu, a South American rodent sometimes kept as a pet. But we can't find any coypus either. Later, when I consult Stephen Battersby, a rat expert and president of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, he inclines towards the coypu suggestion. But does he think rat numbers are increasing? "The indicators appear to be that they are, but there is also a natural population cycle, so it's hard to know."

What is certain is that rats have a serious image problem. Personally, I quite like them, but for most people – fed by horror-film imagery and the fact that rats are always blamed for the plague (it was actually the fleas they carried that were responsible) – they are the stuff of nightmares; think of the rats in Room 101 trying to gnaw away at Winston Smith in Orwell's 1984. Mice, though still considered vermin, are at least seen as fairly cute.

Putting a figure on the number of rats in the UK is difficult. It is often claimed there is one rat for every person, meaning there are more than 60 million. "That's a myth," says Battersby, explaining that this came from an estimate of the rat population just after the first world war, when there were fewer people and farming practices included building hay ricks where rats thrived. "Life has changed a great deal since then. I would say there could be in the order of 20 million. But if you have rats in and around your home, it doesn't matter what the number is in the rest of the country, it's those you have to worry about."

Rats can get in "through a gap as small as half an inch," says Battersby. "They can flatten themselves. They're also extremely clever, and can swim and jump." Hussain says they also burrow under foundations. "I've seen holes chewed in walls, concrete gnawed through. The damage they do is unbelievable. People don't want to admit they have a rat problem – it sounds as if they are dirty – but rats will come in if there's access and there's food lying around. If you're feeding the birds, that's a really good source of food. So is home composting."

Rats are not great climbers, but they can shimmy their way up a house in the gap between drainpipe and wall, then get into the roof. "A common route is through ruptured drains or poorly covered drains," says Hussain. My friend, Helen, came home from work one day and heard a splashing noise coming from her downstairs loo – there, treading water in the toilet bowl, was a wet rat. She left London shortly afterwards. "I've seen plastic pipes on the back of a toilet chewed through," Hussain confirms.

Neither the black rat, which is all but extinct now, nor the brown rat are native to the UK. It is believed the black rat came to this island with the Romans, and the brown rat in the 17th century as trade and shipping grew. Rats have travelled all over the world as stowaways on boats, colonising their destination. And, of course, they carry health risks to humans. "Leptospirosis [Weil's disease] is relatively rare," says Battersby. "But if you're taking part in water sports or go fishing, make sure you don't have any open cuts. If you're working in the sewers, the same. But for the general public, it's not really the issue."

More problematic, he says, are the parasites that rats often carry. These include cryptosporidium, which causes diarrhoea, Toxoplasma gondii, which can be fatal to unborn children, "and a lot of worm infections, which can cause stomach problems. There is certainly an association between rat allergen and asthma. Rats excrete salmonella as well, and potentially E coli."

Richard Moseley, from the British Pest Control Association, says rodents are also to blame for some house fires, "because they chew through electric cables". Rats that chew through cables on the rail network cause obvious problems, and getting a rat trapped in a piece of machinery in a factory means production can be stopped for days. "That's a lot of manufacturing you've lost."

Now pest control experts warn that we could be on the brink of an explosion in the numbers of rats as local councils, strapped by budget cuts, put vermin control low down their list of priorities. An even bigger threat, says Moseley, are proposed EU changes to the use of rodenticide. "There are going to be some restrictions, but we're not sure what those are going to be yet."

There are also suggestions that rats are becoming resistant to rodenticides. Robert Smith, a retired professor, is working on a survey of rats from around six areas of the UK that have become resistant to anticoagulant, the main rodenticide used by pest controllers. "People have been trying to deal with rats for centuries," Smith says. "They used to use toxic plants to poison them, but rats evolved behaviour to counteract that. They developed 'taste aversion'. They are neophobic – they have a fear of anything 'new' – so with a new food, they won't gorge themselves on it, they will just nibble, then go away and see if it harms them. Rodents can't vomit; once they've swallowed something they can't get rid of it, so they are very careful. If something makes them feel ill, the memory of that taste stays with them for their lifetime." What's more, he says, rats can communicate this information to other rats, probably through scent on their breath. "That makes it difficult to kill a rat with anything that makes them feel ill quickly."

This is where anticoagulant rodenticide comes in – preventing blood clotting so a rodent, squeezing through tiny gaps and picking up small injuries, effectively bleeds to death internally. More importantly, rodenticide are slow-acting, so the rat never learns to associate the bait with what is killing them. They were introduced around 1950 and, by 1958, scientists found the first record of resistance. "In the 70s, chemists devised new versions of the anti- coagulant that overcame resistance so it looked like problem solved." It wasn't though. By the early 90s, rats in southern England were displaying signs of resistance. "There are now parts of Berkshire and Hampshire where it seems it's not possible to control the rats, not with chemicals that are legal to use."

How long will it be before the entire rat population is resistant? "It really depends on how extensive resistance is, and how quickly it spreads – we just don't know at the moment," admits Smith, who is aiming to have all the samples in by the end of April. If all rats became resistant to anticoagulants, he says, "I guess we would be back to where we were during the 40s. There would be significant amounts of contamination of food – we would have to get used to rat droppings and hairs in food. Then there are the diseases that can be spread to other animals, including livestock and people." And if rats are getting bigger, he says, it could be that they have genetic resistance, "which means they live longer – rats keep growing".

Hussain and I drive to an area of Bradford to which he has been called out before. Mohammed, who runs a taxi company at the end of a residential street, says he has a problem with rats. "There's one we see that's the size of a small cat, but it always gets away. We put those glue traps down." Mohammed says it was caught but managed to escape, leaving hair stuck to a pad like someone freeing themselves of their trousers.

He takes us to a room at the back of his office and the first thing you notice are all the holes in the ceiling. "They go in the ceiling to die and it really stinks." He made the holes in the plasterboard to cut them out – it looks like the work of someone driven demented by rats. "I think they came from the restaurant next door, until it closed down. I looked in the window once and there were five or six rats in there. They're not scared."

Back in the car, Hussain explains how he rids a house of rats. He uses boxes baited with anticoagulant; traps don't tend to work. "You're talking about an intelligent animal – if something is killing its friends, it will stay away," he says. After a week or so, he returns to look for the bodies and remove them for incineration.

I'm starting to feel a bit sorry for rats. I had one - his name was Geronimo – when I was a child, so I know they are intelligent, affectionate animals. And if rats are on the increase, it is surely our fault. We tempt them into our homes and workplaces with the shameful amount of food we throw away. "We don't have an active rat population without human activity," says Battersby. "If people throw food litter around, or don't store their refuse correctly, don't be surprised if you get rats. The way rats behave are usually a reflection of the way we behave."

As the sky darkens again, we are forced to give up the search for giant rats. I've been trying to work out if Hussain actually likes rats, or feels a bit sorry for them, but he won't bite. Eventually, as we drive to look at a bait box outside a fried-chicken restaurant, he admits to a grudging respect. "They are a formidable adversary," he says.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/sep/19/in-search-of-giant-rat

In search of the giant rat

Are plagues of huge rats really overrunning the UK? There was only one way to find out…

Emine Saner
guardian.co.uk,
Sunday 19 September 2010 20.30 BST

Mac Hussain disappears into the undergrowth. "Mind out, there's broken glass there," comes his voice from the other side of some brambles. Between short rain breaks in the sodden sky, we are on the hunt for giant rats. There are thought to be at least four here – well that's what Brandon Goddard told the Sun recently, after it ran a picture of him holding a giant rat he claimed to have shot on this Bradford estate. "The first went right past but we got the second one. Then three more got away," Goddard, who lives in nearby Wakefield, told the paper. "This one I shot was absolutely terrifying. I was shaking. Goodness knows where the others went."

Thankfully, there is no sign of them now – but if you heard that a Sun reporter and a man with an air rifle were on your tail, would you hang around? We poke about in the undergrowth on a bit of wasteland. "Ideal place for rats, this," says Hussain. He has been a pest controller for 12 years. "There has been so much rain over the last few weeks that it will have had an effect, physically pushing the rats out of the sewer system."

Last month, Yorkshire Water warned of just such an increase in the number of rats in Bradford. The company, which baits around 100,000 of its manholes, reported a rise in "takes" (poison disappearing from bait boxes). A spokes-man put this down to households and food businesses pouring cooking oil down the drains, where it congeals in the sewers and the rats feed on it.

"I think the numbers are increasing," says Hussain. "I'm certainly getting more calls." He thinks several factors are at work: "Bin collections are getting less regular, there are more takeaways opening, and people throw so much food away now. The [rats'] size does seem to be getting bigger compared to when I started out."

But he is not convinced that so-called giant rats exist. "If you get a well-fed rat, it can be 15 inches – plus the tail can be seven or eight inches. And people always think a rat is bigger than it is. I get a panicky call from someone saying they've seen a huge rat, and it turns out to be a mouse." The biggest rat Hussain has ever caught was 14 inches (not including the tail). "If you stretched it out, you could probably get it to two feet."

Every year there are stories of towns and villages that are supposedly "rat infested". This summer it was Haltwhistle in Northumberland. Last year, it was Flamborough in Yorkshire and two unidentified Berkshire towns that were becoming "overrun". A woman, who asks not to be named, stops to watch. "I think it's a load of rubbish," she says. "I've been here four years and never seen a giant rat. It's wrong to say we're being invaded."

There was some speculation that the giant rat Goddard claimed to have shot was actually a coypu, a South American rodent sometimes kept as a pet. But we can't find any coypus either. Later, when I consult Stephen Battersby, a rat expert and president of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, he inclines towards the coypu suggestion. But does he think rat numbers are increasing? "The indicators appear to be that they are, but there is also a natural population cycle, so it's hard to know."

What is certain is that rats have a serious image problem. Personally, I quite like them, but for most people – fed by horror-film imagery and the fact that rats are always blamed for the plague (it was actually the fleas they carried that were responsible) – they are the stuff of nightmares; think of the rats in Room 101 trying to gnaw away at Winston Smith in Orwell's 1984. Mice, though still considered vermin, are at least seen as fairly cute.

Putting a figure on the number of rats in the UK is difficult. It is often claimed there is one rat for every person, meaning there are more than 60 million. "That's a myth," says Battersby, explaining that this came from an estimate of the rat population just after the first world war, when there were fewer people and farming practices included building hay ricks where rats thrived. "Life has changed a great deal since then. I would say there could be in the order of 20 million. But if you have rats in and around your home, it doesn't matter what the number is in the rest of the country, it's those you have to worry about."

Rats can get in "through a gap as small as half an inch," says Battersby. "They can flatten themselves. They're also extremely clever, and can swim and jump." Hussain says they also burrow under foundations. "I've seen holes chewed in walls, concrete gnawed through. The damage they do is unbelievable. People don't want to admit they have a rat problem – it sounds as if they are dirty – but rats will come in if there's access and there's food lying around. If you're feeding the birds, that's a really good source of food. So is home composting."

Rats are not great climbers, but they can shimmy their way up a house in the gap between drainpipe and wall, then get into the roof. "A common route is through ruptured drains or poorly covered drains," says Hussain. My friend, Helen, came home from work one day and heard a splashing noise coming from her downstairs loo – there, treading water in the toilet bowl, was a wet rat. She left London shortly afterwards. "I've seen plastic pipes on the back of a toilet chewed through," Hussain confirms.

Neither the black rat, which is all but extinct now, nor the brown rat are native to the UK. It is believed the black rat came to this island with the Romans, and the brown rat in the 17th century as trade and shipping grew. Rats have travelled all over the world as stowaways on boats, colonising their destination. And, of course, they carry health risks to humans. "Leptospirosis [Weil's disease] is relatively rare," says Battersby. "But if you're taking part in water sports or go fishing, make sure you don't have any open cuts. If you're working in the sewers, the same. But for the general public, it's not really the issue."

More problematic, he says, are the parasites that rats often carry. These include cryptosporidium, which causes diarrhoea, Toxoplasma gondii, which can be fatal to unborn children, "and a lot of worm infections, which can cause stomach problems. There is certainly an association between rat allergen and asthma. Rats excrete salmonella as well, and potentially E coli."

Richard Moseley, from the British Pest Control Association, says rodents are also to blame for some house fires, "because they chew through electric cables". Rats that chew through cables on the rail network cause obvious problems, and getting a rat trapped in a piece of machinery in a factory means production can be stopped for days. "That's a lot of manufacturing you've lost."

Now pest control experts warn that we could be on the brink of an explosion in the numbers of rats as local councils, strapped by budget cuts, put vermin control low down their list of priorities. An even bigger threat, says Moseley, are proposed EU changes to the use of rodenticide. "There are going to be some restrictions, but we're not sure what those are going to be yet."

There are also suggestions that rats are becoming resistant to rodenticides. Robert Smith, a retired professor, is working on a survey of rats from around six areas of the UK that have become resistant to anticoagulant, the main rodenticide used by pest controllers. "People have been trying to deal with rats for centuries," Smith says. "They used to use toxic plants to poison them, but rats evolved behaviour to counteract that. They developed 'taste aversion'. They are neophobic – they have a fear of anything 'new' – so with a new food, they won't gorge themselves on it, they will just nibble, then go away and see if it harms them. Rodents can't vomit; once they've swallowed something they can't get rid of it, so they are very careful. If something makes them feel ill, the memory of that taste stays with them for their lifetime." What's more, he says, rats can communicate this information to other rats, probably through scent on their breath. "That makes it difficult to kill a rat with anything that makes them feel ill quickly."

This is where anticoagulant rodenticide comes in – preventing blood clotting so a rodent, squeezing through tiny gaps and picking up small injuries, effectively bleeds to death internally. More importantly, rodenticide are slow-acting, so the rat never learns to associate the bait with what is killing them. They were introduced around 1950 and, by 1958, scientists found the first record of resistance. "In the 70s, chemists devised new versions of the anti- coagulant that overcame resistance so it looked like problem solved." It wasn't though. By the early 90s, rats in southern England were displaying signs of resistance. "There are now parts of Berkshire and Hampshire where it seems it's not possible to control the rats, not with chemicals that are legal to use."

How long will it be before the entire rat population is resistant? "It really depends on how extensive resistance is, and how quickly it spreads – we just don't know at the moment," admits Smith, who is aiming to have all the samples in by the end of April. If all rats became resistant to anticoagulants, he says, "I guess we would be back to where we were during the 40s. There would be significant amounts of contamination of food – we would have to get used to rat droppings and hairs in food. Then there are the diseases that can be spread to other animals, including livestock and people." And if rats are getting bigger, he says, it could be that they have genetic resistance, "which means they live longer – rats keep growing".

Hussain and I drive to an area of Bradford to which he has been called out before. Mohammed, who runs a taxi company at the end of a residential street, says he has a problem with rats. "There's one we see that's the size of a small cat, but it always gets away. We put those glue traps down." Mohammed says it was caught but managed to escape, leaving hair stuck to a pad like someone freeing themselves of their trousers.

He takes us to a room at the back of his office and the first thing you notice are all the holes in the ceiling. "They go in the ceiling to die and it really stinks." He made the holes in the plasterboard to cut them out – it looks like the work of someone driven demented by rats. "I think they came from the restaurant next door, until it closed down. I looked in the window once and there were five or six rats in there. They're not scared."

Back in the car, Hussain explains how he rids a house of rats. He uses boxes baited with anticoagulant; traps don't tend to work. "You're talking about an intelligent animal – if something is killing its friends, it will stay away," he says. After a week or so, he returns to look for the bodies and remove them for incineration.

I'm starting to feel a bit sorry for rats. I had one - his name was Geronimo – when I was a child, so I know they are intelligent, affectionate animals. And if rats are on the increase, it is surely our fault. We tempt them into our homes and workplaces with the shameful amount of food we throw away. "We don't have an active rat population without human activity," says Battersby. "If people throw food litter around, or don't store their refuse correctly, don't be surprised if you get rats. The way rats behave are usually a reflection of the way we behave."

As the sky darkens again, we are forced to give up the search for giant rats. I've been trying to work out if Hussain actually likes rats, or feels a bit sorry for them, but he won't bite. Eventually, as we drive to look at a bait box outside a fried-chicken restaurant, he admits to a grudging respect. "They are a formidable adversary," he says.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/sep/19/in-search-of-giant-rat

Endangered species finding a new home in South Yorkshire

Water voles, one of Britain's most threatened mammals, have been taking up residence at a new habitat in South Yorkshire.

In 2009 ecologists from the Environment Agency discovered water voles living in Little Houghton Marsh, near Darfield in a flood defence washland. Since then the site has been developed as a wetland reserve and the water vole population has now grown.

Work to the site started in March 2010 and included creating a new ditch system that stretches for more than 220 metres in the middle of the washland. The ditches are deep enough to contain water all year round.

Environment Agency biodiversity officer Andrew Virtue said: “when we visited the site in 2009 we noted that the present ditch system was very shallow and prone to drying up. The water vole population at Little Houghton is isolated from other sites and we wanted to create a permanent home for the voles by extending and deepening the ditches.

“Although it is quite difficult to spot these little creatures, there are now clear signs of increased use by water vole, including fresh burrows and lots of water vole droppings along the banks of the new ditches. We are surprised how quickly they have been colonised – the voles are clearly happy.

“We will be visiting the site over the coming months to get more accurate numbers of exactly how many more water voles there are, since our initial estimate of 20 adults in late 2009. Other wildlife will also benefit from the ditch system, including birds, amphibians and grass snakes”

Other work to the site includes the creation of three wildlife ponds. None of this work affects the principal function of the washland site - to help protect the people of Darfield from flooding.

The project is part of the Dearne Valley Green Heart , a partnership between the Environment Agency, Natural England and RSPB creating a significant network of wildlife sites in and around Barnsley.

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/news/123217.aspx

Endangered species finding a new home in South Yorkshire

Water voles, one of Britain's most threatened mammals, have been taking up residence at a new habitat in South Yorkshire.

In 2009 ecologists from the Environment Agency discovered water voles living in Little Houghton Marsh, near Darfield in a flood defence washland. Since then the site has been developed as a wetland reserve and the water vole population has now grown.

Work to the site started in March 2010 and included creating a new ditch system that stretches for more than 220 metres in the middle of the washland. The ditches are deep enough to contain water all year round.

Environment Agency biodiversity officer Andrew Virtue said: “when we visited the site in 2009 we noted that the present ditch system was very shallow and prone to drying up. The water vole population at Little Houghton is isolated from other sites and we wanted to create a permanent home for the voles by extending and deepening the ditches.

“Although it is quite difficult to spot these little creatures, there are now clear signs of increased use by water vole, including fresh burrows and lots of water vole droppings along the banks of the new ditches. We are surprised how quickly they have been colonised – the voles are clearly happy.

“We will be visiting the site over the coming months to get more accurate numbers of exactly how many more water voles there are, since our initial estimate of 20 adults in late 2009. Other wildlife will also benefit from the ditch system, including birds, amphibians and grass snakes”

Other work to the site includes the creation of three wildlife ponds. None of this work affects the principal function of the washland site - to help protect the people of Darfield from flooding.

The project is part of the Dearne Valley Green Heart , a partnership between the Environment Agency, Natural England and RSPB creating a significant network of wildlife sites in and around Barnsley.

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/news/123217.aspx

Guinea pig saved from escaped snake

27 August 2010

An escaped snake has been caught just moments before it was about to eat a pet guinea pig.

Diego the boa constrictor escaped from his enclosure at his owner Aaron Waymont's house almost a month ago sparking a neighbourhood-wide search in Wickford, Essex, England.

After Diego made his escape police warned local residents to watch out for the killer reptile - which weighs around 63lbs and is capable of eating a small pet or even a baby.

Aaron was relieved to find the serpent in his own garden just as Diego was about to devour one of his beloved guinea pigs and has now promised to keep him under lock and key.

Aaron said: "I knew he'd still be around here. Everyone can relax now. I've ordered a bigger vivarium with reinforced glass and two locks on it. There's no way he's going anywhere again."

http://entertainment.stv.tv/showbiz/194340-guinea-pig-saved-from-escaped-snake/

Monster Rat Shot Dead On Housing Estate

7:05pm UK, Thursday August 19, 2010
David Williams, Sky News Online

Wildlife experts have said reports of a colony of giant rats need to be investigated after a huge rodent was shot dead on a West Yorkshire housing estate.

The culled super rat measured 30in (2.5ft) - making it as big as a bulldog - and twice the size of a normal rat.

Experts believe it could be a descendent of the coypu species, a large South American rodent not seen in Britain for two decades.

Brandon Goddard, 31, who shot the rat, said voluminous vermin have been invading homes on the Ravenscliffe estate in Bradford.

He saw four others of the same size as he fired on the group with an air rifle.

Mr Goddard told The Sun: "They were more like Ratzillas than rats.

"I got out of there as fast as I could. Who knows how many there will be if they've been breeding?"

Brandon, a manager at a cleaning firm, said: "The first went right past, but we got the second one. Then three more got away.

"I've seen thousands of rats during the course of my work and go shooting a couple of times a week. But I've never seen any as big as this.

"The one I shot was absolutely terrifying. I was shaking. Goodness knows where the others went. I'm glad I don't live there."

People living on the Ravenscliffe estate said large rats often invade their homes and council officials have been called out to eradicate the problem.

See video at: http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Strange-News/Rat-Giant-Rodent-Shot-Dead-On-Bradford-Estate-Creature-Could-Be-Descendent-Of-Coypu-Species/Article/201008315696471

Two 'giant rats' found in East Midlands factory

20 August 2010

Two 2ft long rats were caught in a factory in the East Midlands, Rentokil has confirmed.

The pest control agency said the animals were caught within the last four weeks and were double the normal size of a brown rat.

It said access to a plentiful supply of food had allowed the rats to grow to an abnormally large size.

The news emerged following reports in the Sun newspaper that a 30in (76cm) rodent was killed on a Bradford estate.

Rentokil spokesman Malcolm Padley said: "They were both around 2ft and it's fair to say our technicians were very surprised at the size.

"It goes to show that where there's a food source, these rodents will grow big".

There had been suggestions that the animals could be coypu, a plant-eating semi-aquatic rodent originally native to South America.

However, chief executive of the Mammal Society, Marina Pacheco, confirmed this was not the case.

She said the rodents did not have the distinctive orange teeth seen in the species.

A nationwide cull of coypu is thought to have wiped the animals from the wild 20 years ago.

It is illegal to own one unless it is for exhibition or scientific research, in which case it must be licensed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11037920
(Submitted by Liz R)