MELANIE MOERIS
Just before Christmas last year, Julie Leven and her husband Des took their camper up to visit their son in northern New South Wales, Australia. Driving back at night to their home in Gilgandra, around 430 kilometers northwest of Sydney, they saw masses of white spots moving across the dark road surface. The spots, they soon realized, were mice.
Once they reached their house, the Levens saw a scene of rodent devastation. Mice had invaded their home in such numbers that it was unlivable. The creatures had gnawed their way into the pantry and ruined all the food they could get into. Their droppings and pungent urine were spread from one end of the dwelling to the other, across soft furnishings and bedding. The rodents had even eaten the insulation around the engine wiring in two tractors and ruined their harvested hay bales.
Mouse Thought to be Extinct Found in Australia
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Mouse Declared Extinct for Over a Century Rediscovered on an Australian Island
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A mouse, whose species was believed to have been extinct more than 150 years ago, has been rediscovered in Australia.
Researchers further compared the DNA samples from eight extinct native rodents and 42 of their living relatives, to conclude that the ‘extinct’ was indistinguishable from the Shark Bay mouse, which is found on several small islands off the coast of Western Australia, reports The Guardian.
The study, that was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America or PNAS, has helped scientists understand better what must have led to the decline of native species since the arrival of Europeans in Australia.