rat woes

Wreaking havoc

It’s been two centuries since rats landed on the Aleutian Islands from the shipwreck of a Japanese ship and wreaked havoc on the wildlife there. Now wildlife experts in Alaska are planning their eviction from the island. Rat Island is a treeless, volcanic island in the 1000-mile-long Aleutian chain and is infested with rats. The presence of these non-native rodents has rendered it worthless for wild birds who are defenceless against land predators. These birds suffered a huge blow with the arrival of the rodents. The US Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages the maritime refuge, is formulating plans to wipe out Rat Island’s rats. Rats, it has been established, are responsible for the extinction of various species across the world since the 1600s. Seems like it’s time to call the Pied Piper again!

New dawn

Long haul

Dawn is the latest spacecraft launched by Nasa to study the asteroids Ceres and Vesta. It will travel a distance of almost five billion km and reach Vesta in 2011 and Ceres in 2015. While Ceres has a thick layer of ice under its hard surface, Vesta is made mostly of lava. Dawn will orbit these asteroids and send images to Earth, which will help scientists to study the birth and evolution of the solar system, as asteroids are said to be the remains of planets.