[HN Gopher] Releasing cats in Australia to help marsupials adapt
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Releasing cats in Australia to help marsupials adapt
Author : clouddrover
Score : 25 points
Date : 2021-03-26 12:24 UTC (10 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.bbc.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.bbc.com)
| GVIrish wrote:
| "Some of you may die, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make"
|
| This is a pretty novel approach, gruesome though it is. I think a
| lot of conservation efforts do have to start trying more
| novel/radical measures to mitigate the damage from invasive
| species because the window to save some of these ecosystems is
| very unstable and extinction pressure is increasing.
|
| I hate that it has come to this, but in order to save some of the
| world's biodiversity, we're going to have to take a much active
| role at managing nature because so much damage has already been
| done.
| EdwardDiego wrote:
| Hmm, now this is an interesting approach.
|
| I wish it could be applied in NZ to help our endemic species deal
| with mustelids, but it would be highly contingent on the breeding
| rate of the prey species - bilbies and boodies (god I love
| Australian names for things) are pretty prolific breeders if
| conditions are right, but our highly vulnerable species[1][2] are
| the polar opposite, most likely an adaptation to prevent
| overpopulation.
|
| [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_spotted_kiwi [2]:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakapo
|
| After all, if you're nocturnal, and camouflaged, then your avian
| predators are going to have a hard time finding you, so your next
| problem is outgrowing your food supply, so breed slower.
|
| Also doesn't help that these species have very distinct scents.
| People I worked with as a ranger had specific overalls that they
| put on when handling kiwi because you could apparently never get
| the kiwi smell out. Kakapo apparently smell sorta mouldy, sorta
| fruity. Mammals are great at hunting by scent, birds hunt by
| sight, hence why introduced mustelids and dogs (and to a lesser
| extent, cats) massacred many of our birds.
| KineticLensman wrote:
| > birds hunt by sight
|
| Many owls hunt by hearing, notably the Great Grey Owl [0] whose
| facial disk is essentially an antenna dish mounted on the front
| of their heads. They can locate prey hiding under snow, for
| example.
|
| [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_grey_owl#Feeding
| EdwardDiego wrote:
| Ah, you're right, I rather over generalised there, more
| correctly it's "the avian predators they evolved to avoid,
| hunt by sight".
|
| The native ruru/morepork owl hunts by sound, and I'm assuming
| the extinct endemic laughing owl hunted by sound also.
| (Apparently, it preferred to hunt on foot...!)
|
| But neither owl predated birds larger than a passerine.
| KineticLensman wrote:
| I also find it fascinating that many owls have evolved
| silent flight to avoid giving themselves away to prey with
| good hearing, even if the lack of preen-oil required makes
| them vulnerable to waterlogging in wet weather.
|
| (Thank you for introducing me to the Laughing Owl, although
| I was saddened to read that it's now extinct)
| nwatson wrote:
| Not my position but per some, feral-cat:marsupial :: COVID:human
| .
| EdwardDiego wrote:
| Uh... ...pardon? We got Covid because of marsupials being
| predated by feral cats?
| klyrs wrote:
| No, the notation says that cats are to marsupials as covid is
| to humans. I think they're saying that cats are a plague on
| marsupials.
| EdwardDiego wrote:
| Ah, gotcha. Well, yes, but no. It really depends on the
| marsupial. I've seen a brushtail possum dominate a dog.
|
| And I'd bet on a Tasmanian devil or a thylacine (RIP) or a
| Thylacoleo carnifex (also RIP) against a feral cat any day
| of the week.
| [deleted]
| nwatson wrote:
| Cats are an evolutionary pressure on marsupials to make
| them "more fit" over generations and withstand future
| cats.
|
| Some want to let COVID run rampant so that likewise
| future human generations will be immune to it -- those
| people are fine with lots of grannies dying right now.
| JoeAltmaier wrote:
| Heck lots of 50-year-olds who run marathons.
| ngcc_hk wrote:
| First part is very interesting but the second part is very
| frightening.
|
| The reverse thinking to let cat back in so yang and Ying can
| adapt to each other instead of just fence without a system ...
| great thinking.
|
| If we have to edit our gene to flight pandemics would these
| scientists do the same to human. Understand the usual logic of
| dog bleeding etc but using lab and produce animal or plant that
| bred in the wild,I thought we stopped one firm and we avoid
| genetic modified food ourselves. And they just do it...
|
| It is not the intent of Einstein ....
| AzzieElbab wrote:
| releasing leopards and cheetahs to deal with kangaroos would be
| so much cooler
| aaron695 wrote:
| > Inside the main barrier is a series of smaller fenced-in
| paddocks. Several years ago, Moseby decided to start adding cats
| into some of these.
|
| In a small area they have added cats to help train the natives
| that are part of the breeding program to learn cats are
| dangerous.
| Grakel wrote:
| I wonder if this will have an effect on the mouse plague that
| Australia is currently going through.
| ludston wrote:
| It won't. The recent flooding might though.
| NikolaeVarius wrote:
| I'm going to assume you didn't read the article, and is only
| replying to the subject, since the article is about trying to
| not do exactly what your comment is implying.
| Grakel wrote:
| You assume wrong, but that's ok. I'm referring to a general
| change in attitude about the approach to balancing predator
| and prey instead of trying to eliminate unwanted species with
| direct action, I didn't mean to imply that this specific
| study will fix the national level issue. Sorry of my initial
| comment needed further explanation.
| EdwardDiego wrote:
| Pretty sure the answer to that is no, given that it's only in a
| 12k hectare area.
| underseacables wrote:
| At last! Cats!
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