Yesterday, at the Koko Crater Botanical Garden, we spotted a mongoose darting furtively through the underbrush. Mongooses (mongeese?) aren’t native to Hawaii, but were introduced in a disasterous plan to control rodents. As Hawaii.gov reports:
The mongooses found in Hawai’i are native to India and were originally introduced to Hawai’i Island in 1883 by the sugar industry to control rats in sugarcane fields on Maui, Moloka’i and O’ahu. The introduction of mongoose to Hawaii with the intent to control rats was misguided, because while rodents make up a large portion of the mongooses’ diet, the their substantial negative impact on other desirable birds, insects, and animals outweighs their minor impact on rat. Mongoose are now widespread on all of the main Hawaiian islands except for Lanaʻi and Kauaʻi, where there are no known populations. Mongooses can live in both wet and dry conditions including gardens, grasslands, and forests.
Here’s one. Can you spot it? (Click to enlarge.) I would rate this as “fairly easy”. Answer at noon Chicago time.
Well, that wasn’t tough.
Good to see you back. Missing Hili tho’.
Yes, I rate this one as easy too. Nothing like those mantises or katydids (which I couldn’t find).
Yup. Easy.
Hili will appear every day, as usual. She was just late this morning
Thanks, I do remember you discussing the complexity of the route of Hili to our screens. I should have added ‘ Missing Hili—-after only four hours’ she has been arriving at 8.30am up ’til now.
I am never any good at these. I was better at the old Highlights magazine, find the presidents in the barnyard puzzles.
Well I’m not sure what a mongoose looks like exactly, but unless there are two smallish mammals in the picture, I have got it.
Got it! I think. It’s kind of blurry.
Quiz: There are only two mammals endemic (or is it indigenous?) on the isolated Hawaiian islands: what are they?
Figure it out—what mammals could get there?
Just a guess without checking: some bat and some seal?
Right. It sort of surprised me there are any considering how remote the islands are.
Reminds me of the old joke about the zoo-keeper who writes to a species supplier thusly:
Please send two mongooses.
(Scratches it out and writes:)
Please send two mongeese.
(Scratches it out and writes:)
Please send a mongoose.
P.S. Send another one with it.
(I’ll get my coat and leave.)
Much lighter in color than I was expecting!
Yes, an easy one. No need to enlarge. The mongoose into Hawaii was another stupid human trick. Notice on many of the palm trees all over Hawaii have small pieces of sheet aluminum wrapped around them. A way to stop rats climbing the trees to get the fruit.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javan_mongoose
“Easy”, this time.
I’m curious about any approaches to eliminating the Mongoose. Looks like they have had efforts at poisoning planned for some time now using anticoagulant poison.
https://www.civilbeat.org/2016/03/eradication-plan-wont-kill-just-rodents-and-mongooses/
Of course there is a down-side to poison bait. What else might ingest the toxic chemicals? And how does the poison work it’s way through the ecosystem?