Cats have long held a special place in the life of ex-breeder and conservationist, Julie Boyd, providing colour and companionship, as well as being keen rodent hunters. On her sprawling rural New Zealand property in the upper North Island town of Kaipara Flats, the cats roam free. “I have an elderly cat- Padme – who […]
Tag: rodents
Nevada has no good reason to continue wildlife-killing contests
It looks like Nevada Department of Wildlife commission is squirming out of a decision on banning wildlife-killing contests in the state, as it signaled in a meeting last week when it polled attendees to see if there was room for compromise on the issue. Compromise? No way, not on this matter. These contests are slaughterfests […]
What you should NEVER feed hedgehogs – three top tips to helping wildlife
HEDGEHOGS are popular visitors to your garden with as many as 10 visiting a garden over several nights, so if you want to feed these friendly creatures what should you avoid? Hedgehogs are widespread throughout England and Wales. They prey on invertebrates and are known to eat amphibians, small rodents and birds. They eat several […]
As forests shrink, mammals are stressed out— with possible fallout for humans
Humans aren’t the only ones feeling anxiety about environmental destruction. As forests shrink, small mammals are also feeling stressed, and we can tell by their fur. A team of scientists collected fur samples from 106 small rodents and marsupials in six forest fragments in the Atlantic Forest of Paraguay. After grinding each fur sample into […]
Gigantic Rats Will Rule the Earth When Other Animals Go Extinct
University of Leicester academic predicts rats will continue to grow and fill a ‘significant chunk’ of Earth’s emptying ecospace. When Reggae band UB40 famously asked, ‘There’s a rat in my kitchen what am I going to do?” in their 1986 hit single, they were looking for a practical solution to rid them of a pesky […]
Isles of Scilly rat eradication to ‘save seabirds’ begins
A project aimed at protecting internationally important seabird populations on two of the Isles of Scilly by killing more than 3,000 brown rats, is under way. The islands, which are located off Cornwall, are home to breeding populations of 14 seabird species and approximately 20,000 birds. Eradication experts from New Zealand and the UK have […]
Scientists discover new giant mole rat in Africa (photos)
Although the term “giant mole rat” may not immediately inspire love, the mole rats of Africa are a fascinating bunch. They spend practically their entire lives underground building elaborate tunnel systems and feeding on plant stems. This underground lifestyle has led them to evolve small ears, tiny eyes, forward-pointing teeth for digging, and nostrils they […]
New species tree-dwelling porcupine discovered in critically threatened Brazilian habitat
Scientists in Brazil have described a new species of tree-dwelling porcupine in the country’s most endangered ecosystems. The description is published in last week’s issue ofZootaxa. A team of researchers led by Antonio Rossano Mendes Pontes, a biologist at the Federal University of Pernambuco, found the porcupine in a small forest fragment in the state […]