PGR News from the Pacific

Posted 8:03 PM by Luigi

Coconut-eating rats plague Tuvalu

See also the FAO website.

UNITED NATIONS, May 8 (UPI) -- The United Nations will funnel $200,000 to a tiny Pacific Island country to help it fight the biggest threat its local economy faces: tree-leaping rats.

Young coconuts are at risk on the nine coral islands of Tuvalu, where nimble black rats jump between palms and gnaw through the shells, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization reported Monday. Coconuts and copra (a coconut oil) are a major island export.

The rats -- whose scientific name is Rattus rattus -- are not only eating the country out of its prized crop. Their insatiable appetites are also destroying the diet of the world's largest land invertebrates, the agency said.

Coconut crabs, usually the size of small cats, dine on fallen coconuts, which they wrangle with claws capable of lifting rocks weighing 30 kilos. Once ubiquitous in the Pacific Islands, their numbers are dwindling because of their slow growth rates and their popularity on some islands as a culinary delicacy.

The FAO is bringing Tuvalu's rodent expert out of retirement to oversee its pesticide plan. The agency will fill recycled Australian pineapple cans with poisoned bait and dangle the cans just above the ground -- too high for coconut crabs but within reach of the rats, who can leap up to a meter into the air. The agency will also wrap the island's palm trunks in metal sheets, to keep rats from scurrying to the top.

The rats, however, do not threaten Tuvalu's most reliable revenue source. The country has leased its internet domain suffix -- .tv -- to an American Web hosting company for $50 million.



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UNITED NATIONS, May 8 (UPI) -- The United Nations will funnel $200,000 to a tiny Pacific Island country to help it fight the biggest threat its local economy faces: tree-leaping rats. Young coconuts are at risk on the nine coral islands of Tuvalu, where nimble black rats jump between palms and gnaw through the shells, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization reported Monday. Coconuts and copra (a coconut oil) are a major island export. The rats -- whose scientific name is Rattus rattus -- are not only eating the country out of its prized crop. Their insatiable appetites are also destroying the diet of the world's largest land invertebrates, the agency said. Coconut crabs, usually the size of small cats, dine on fallen coconuts, which they wrangle with claws capable of lifting rocks weighing 30 kilos. Once ubiquitous in the Pacific Islands, their numbers are dwindling because of their slow growth rates and their popularity on some islands as a culinary delicacy. The FAO is bringing Tuvalu's rodent expert out of retirement to oversee its pesticide plan. The agency will fill recycled Australian pineapple cans with poisoned bait and dangle the cans just above the ground -- too high for coconut crabs but within reach of the rats, who can leap up to a meter into the air. The agency will also wrap the island's palm trunks in metal sheets, to keep rats from scurrying to the top. The rats, however, do not threaten Tuvalu's most reliable revenue source. The country has leased its internet domain suffix -- .tv -- to an American Web hosting company for $50 million. * Comments: Post a Comment	Archive October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 January 2004 February 2004 March 2004 April 2004 May 2004 June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July 2009 August 2009 September 2009 October 2009 November 2009 January 2010 RSS Feed Alternative feed Contact Tevita Something new: Agrobiodiversity Weblog: For discussions of conservation and sustainable use of the genetic resources of crops, livestock and their wild relatives. 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