gdimension

Joined: 05 Jul 2005 Location: Jeju
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Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 8:31 pm Post subject: Giant Mice!! |
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I know it is a bit disgusting to think about what is going on there (read how the mice kill the chicks), but the following line had me in stitches, and I'm not exactly sure why:
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...much like blue t i t s learned to peck milk bottle tops," he said... |
Isn't that line just a bit Alice-in-Wonderlandish?
Here's the beginning of the article...
Giant mice on south Atlantic island 'eating seabird chicks alive'
Mon Jul 25,11:32 AM ET
Giant carnivorous mice on the British-ruled island of Gough in the south Atlantic are eating seabird chicks alive in mass feeding frenzies, threatening several species' survival, a wildlife charity warned.
The house mice, while three times the size of those seen in mainland Britain, are still only one 250th the size of the chicks they attack, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) said Monday.
The mice, which strike at night in large numbers, are devouring more than one million petrel, shearwater and albatross chicks on Gough Island every year, the charity warned.
The island, a UN World Heritage site in the South Atlantic, is the most important seabird colony on the planet, hosting more than 10 million birds. It is one of the Tristan da Cunha group of islands, a British overseas territory.
"Gough Island hosts an astonishing community of seabirds, and the catastrophe could make many extinct within decades," said Geoff Hilton, a senior research biologist at the RSPB....
The full article may be read here |
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