Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The Polynesian rat, Pacific rat or little rat (Rattus exulans), or kiore, is the third most widespread species of rat in the world behind the brown rat and black rat.Contrary to its vernacular name, the Polynesian rat originated in Southeast Asia, and like its relatives has become widespread, migrating to most of Polynesia, including New Zealand, Easter Island, and Hawaii.
Polynesian rat or kiore (Rattus exulans) – originally native to Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia, but now introduced throughout the Pacific (including most Polynesian, Melanesian, and Micronesian islands, most notably Fiji, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Easter Island and Hawaii), as well as the ...
Known from two specimens of unknown origin that were collected in 1783 and 1823, believed to have come from somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. Its coloration suggests that it was a forest-dweller, and its short and rounded wings that it evolved in a predator-free island. 1928 native accounts of a bird in Tahiti may refer to this species.
First described by Chinese parasitologist Hsin-Tao Chen (1904–1977) in 1935, after examining Cantonese rat specimens, [1] the nematode Angiostrongylus cantonensis was identified in the cerebrospinal fluid of a patient with eosinophilic meningitis by Nomura and Lim in Taiwan in 1944. They noted that raw food eaten by the patient may have been ...
[10] [11] The 1999 dating of some kiore (Polynesian rat) bones to as early as 100 CE [12] was later found to be an error; new samples of rat bone (and also of rat-gnawed shells and woody seed cases) mostly gave dates later than the Tarawera eruption with only three samples giving slightly earlier dates. [13]
The only mammals native to the region are the common Polynesian rat (Rattus exulans) and the goats. The rat seems to have been introduced by seafarers many centuries before Cook arrived in 1777 (he mentioned them already being present); goats have been extinct since 14 January 2004.
Polynesian settlers arrived in the Tuamotus about 1300 years ago, likely from the Society Islands. Polynesians brought the coconut palm (Cocos nucifera) and candlenut tree (Aleurites moluccanus) which naturalized on the islands, as well as pigs and the Polynesian rat (Rattus exulans).
The Polynesian rat and dog may have also preyed on chicks. Unlike the closely related swamp harrier which colonised New Zealand after its extinction, [88] it was probably too heavy and small-winged to hunt over open grassland areas. [89] Haast's eagle: Hieraaetus moorei: South Island [29] [90] and Stewart Island [90]