Tiny victims of roadside litterbugs: Three million mice and voles die trapped in bottles and cans thrown from cars

Volunteers checking empty bottles and cans found the remains of tiny animals 

Some 3.2million voles, shrews and mice die as they crawl in and cannot escape

One RSPB member found a dead animal in one in ten bottles in south Norfolk 

By George Odling For The Daily Mail

PUBLISHED: 23:21, 26 March 2018 | UPDATED: 00:27, 27 March 2018

Millions of Britain’s smallest mammals are killed each year because of litter dumped on the roadside, a disturbing study has found.

As many as 3.2million voles, shrews and mice die when they crawl into discarded bottles and cans and are unable to get out.

Volunteers who checked hundreds of bottles and cans for the study found the remains of dozens of tiny animals. Desperate for shelter, they had ended up trapped and had starved to death.

Plastic bottles were the worst offenders, with one in eight containing a tiny dead animal and some packed with as many as seven.

Small mammals are integral to the food chain – eating insects and plants and providing food for larger animals and rare birds such as owls and kestrels.

The 18-month study was led by RSPB volunteer Graham Moates, who had help from charity Keep Britain Tidy.

Mr Moates was appalled at what he found in the rubbish littering the roads, mainly around south Norfolk. Of the 2,174 bottles and cans collected, there were 230 dead animals inside – one for every ten discarded containers. Of these, 118 were common shrews and 59 were bank voles. Based on what he found, Mr Moates calculates that across the country, up to 3.2million animals end up dying this way every year.

‘I never thought it could be this many before I began the research,’ he said.

‘I was expecting an occupancy rate of about one per cent, but it was more than five times that. It is very upsetting to think of how many small creatures die in this way because of human carelessness.’ New regulations making it easier for councils to clamp down on littering motorists come into force next month.

As many as 3.2million voles, shrews and mice die when they crawl into discarded bottles and cans and are unable to get out

Fines can now be issued to the registered keeper of the vehicle, regardless of who threw the litter. And Keep Britain Tidy has unveiled a campaign aimed at motorists, urging them to think before they throw rubbish from their cars.

TV presenter and Keep Britain Tidy ambassador Chris Packham said those who care about the country’s wildlife must act now, adding: ‘We have all seen the impact of plastic bottles on our marine environment in recent months. Now, thanks to this research, we know it is killing millions of the small mammals that are a vital source of food for our native birds of prey.’ Keep Britain Tidy chief executive Allison Ogden- Newton urged councils to use CCTV footage and their new powers to fine offenders.

‘We are spending millions every year cleaning up after selfish drivers who seem to think it is acceptable to throw their rubbish out of their cars, turning our roadsides into a giant heartless wasteland,’ she said.

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Mice change their appearance as a result of frequent exposure to humans

Date:  March 16, 2018

Source:  University of Zurich

Summary:

Many tame domesticated animals have a different appearance compared to their relatives in the wild, for example white patches in their fur or shorter snouts. Researchers have now for the first time shown that wild house mice develop the same visible changes -- without selection, as a result of exposure to humans alone.

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Mammal brains identify type of scent faster than once thought

November 14, 2017

It takes less than one-tenth of a second—a fraction of the time previously thought—for the sense of smell to distinguish between one odor and another, new experiments in mice show.

In a study to be published in the journal Nature Communicationsonline Nov. 14, researchers at NYU School of Medicine found that odorants—chemical particles that trigger the sense of smell—need only reach a few signaling proteins on the inside lining of the nose for the mice to identify a familiar aroma. Just as significantly, researchers say they also found that the animals' ability to tell odors apart was the same no matter how strong the scent (regardless of odorant concentration).

"Our study lays the groundwork for a new theory about how mammals, including humans, smell: one that is more streamlined than previously thought," says senior study investigator and neurobiologist Dmitry Rinberg, PhD. His team is planning further animal experiments to look for patterns of brain cell activation linked to smell detection and interpretation that could also apply to people.

"Much like human brains only need a few musical notes to name a particular song once a memory of it is formed, our findings demonstrate that a mouse's sense of smell needs only a few nerve signals to determine the kind of scent," says Rinberg, an associate professor at NYU Langone Health and its Neuroscience Institute.

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Scientists cure blindness in mice with 'simple' genetic procedure that could work on humans

'There are many blind patients in our clinics and the ability to give them some sight back with a relatively simple genetic procedure is very exciting'

Ian Johnston Science Correspondent 

The most common form of blindness in young people could be at least partially cured using gene therapy, a new study in mice suggests.

Researchers managed to restore sight to mice affected by retinitis pigmentosa after reprogramming their remaining retinal nerve cells.

These were not light-sensitive but were altered by the technique to give the mice a degree of vision.

A separate study, also in mice, found gene editing could be used to stop the progress of glaucoma and the scientists said the same technique might work in humans.

One of the researchers in the retinitis pigmentosa study, Dr Samantha de Silva, of Oxford University, expressed optimism about the implications of their work.

“There are many blind patients in our clinics and the ability to give them some sight back with a relatively simple genetic procedure is very exciting,” she said.

“Our next step will be to start a clinical trial to assess this in patients.”

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Drug-laced mice to be used to combat brown tree snake in Guam - via Herp Digest

Pacific Daily News, 7/30/17, by John I. Borjam, 

(Editor of HD- Article is an update on the continued efforts to eradicate the Brown Tree Snake. I believe a 40 plus years battle.).

Once fiscal 2018 kicks in later this year, more drug-laced dead mice will be falling from the skies in an effort to curb the population of brown tree snakes.

Recently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services tested its aerial bait drop system in Guam’s jungles. The program involves air-dropping dead mice filled with acetaminophen, a pain reliever found in medicine like Tylenol, to attract and kill snakes. Streamers attached to the mice get caught in tree branches, suspending the mice where snakes live.

Robert Gosnell, Guam Wildlife Services state director, said the experimentation is complete and the agency is waiting until fiscal 2018, which begins Oct. 1, to begin operations. Education outreach and more information to the public will be available before the mice are dropped, Gosnell said.

The invasive brown tree snake has been responsible for islandwide power outages and the depletion of many of Guam's birds. Gosnell said current control efforts have at least stagnated the population.

“It varies with the seasons, but we believe the population is decreasing slightly because of how many snakes we capture each year,” Gosnell said. He estimates between 12,000 and 15,000 brown tree snakes are caught on Guam annually.

Gosnell and his team of 74 employees use methods such as traps, bait tubes and canine teams to track down the snakes. Groups from the U.S. Geological Survey, Department of Defense and the Division of Aquatics and Wildlife Resources also participate in the captures.

“We always have ongoing research, for example looking at methods of artificial baits versus live baits,” Gosnell said. “There’s about 15 to 20 research projects going on right now for the snake.”

The Department of the Interior is making more money available to help U.S. territories fight invasive species populations.

More than $3.5 million in fiscal 2017 federal funds was set aside to reduce the population of brown tree snakes on Guam.

According to DOI, the funding will go towards the program, as well as additional research, assessments and rapid response training in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, other Micronesian islands and Hawaii.

Mice shed weight when they can’t smell—but not because they stop eating

By Mitch LeslieJul. 5, 2017 , 12:00 PM

When you have a stuffy nose, a slice of freshly baked apple pie tastes like mush. But not being able to smell your food could have a surprising effect on your metabolism, potentially helping you remain thin even when you eat fatty foods, a new study in mice suggests.

“This is a very exciting study, and the outcome is quite compelling,” says neuroendocrinologist Tamas Horvath of Yale School of Medicine, who wasn’t connected to the research.

To conduct the study, molecular biologist Andrew Dillin of the University of California, Berkeley, and colleagues turned to a variety of genetically altered mice. The scientists gave them regular doses of the diphtheria toxin—which causes a temporary loss of odor-sensing neurons—to suppress their sense of smell. They then fed the rodents either a normal diet or fatty foods—the mouse equivalent of cheesecake and pizza—that usually induce obesity.

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How the mouse came to live alongside humans

By Helen Briggs BBC News

28 March 2017

Mice have been living alongside humans for 15,000 years, according to fossil evidence.

This is earlier than previously thought - and predates the dawn of agriculture.

Scientists believe wild mice crept into settlements in the Levant (Eastern Mediterranean) region to steal wild grains and seeds that ancient people had gathered and stored.

The rodents became what we know today as house mice, enjoying free food and shelter in human homes. 

"Nowadays, thanks to this relationship, house mice have colonised almost every corner of the globe to become almost as ubiquitous as humans and also one of the most invasive mammalian species," said Dr Thomas Cucchi of Museum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris.

His research is based on studies of teeth from the remains of rodents found in the southern Levant. 

Mice started their relationship with humans "as soon as our species started to stay put and build houses 15,000 years ago", he said.

The people lived in round houses made of stone and mud. They foraged for wild cereals, such as emmer wheat and barley, and hunted deer and wild boar.

Mice appear to have thrived in this environment, with ample food to eat and few predators. It was a while before cats and dogs arrived on the scene. 

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Corn turning French hamsters into deranged cannibals: research

January 27, 2017 by Marlowe Hood

 

 The major consumption of corn leads to infanticide among the Great hamster, a rodent threatened in Alsace, according to a recent study highlighting "problems related to monoculture"

A diet of corn is turning wild hamsters in northeastern France into deranged cannibals that devour their offspring, alarmed researchers have reported.


"There's clearly an imbalance," Gerard Baumgart, President of the Research Centre for Environmental Protection in Alsace, and an expert on the European hamster, told AFP on Friday.

"Our hamster habitat is collapsing."

More common farther to the east, Cricetus cricetus in critically endangered in western Europe.

The findings, reported last week in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, finger industrial-scale monoculture as the culprit.

Once nourished by a variety of grains, roots and insects, the burrowing rodents live today in a semi-sterile and unbroken ocean of industrially grown maize, or corn.

The monotonous diet is leaving the animals starving, scientists discovered almost by accident.

The problem is a lack of vitamins. In fact, one in particular: B3, or niacin.

Researchers led by Mathilde Tissier at the University of Strasbourg had set out to determine whether hamster diet affects their ability to reproduce in the wild.

Baby hamsters eaten alive

Earlier work had looked at the impact of pesticides and mechanised ploughing, which can destroy their underground homes, especially during hibernation in winter.

But the possible link with what they eat remained unexplored.

A first set of lab experiments with wild specimens compared wheat and corn-based diets, with side dishes of clover or worms.

There was virtually no difference in the number of pups born, or the basic nutritional value of the different menus.

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Mice Sing Love Songs Like a Jet Engine

By Stephanie Pappas, Live Science Contributor | October 11, 2016 07:46am ET

Ultra-high pitched mouse squeaks have something in common with the roar of a jet engine. New research finds that the rodents make ultrasound bleeps by creating a small air jet in their windpipes, employing a mechanism previously seen only in jet engines and high-speed subsonic flows.

The ultrasonic whistles are important because rodents use them to sing mating songs and make announcements about their territory. The sounds are too high in frequency to be detected by the human ear.

Until now, though, no one knew exactly how these whistles were produced. Researchers led by biologist Coen Elemans of the University of Southern Denmark used high-speed camera scopes to capture images of the larynxes, or voice boxes, of mice as the animals made their vocalizations. The cameras captured 100,000 frames per second for analysis. 

Two competing hypotheses had been put forward to explain how the ultrasonic vocalizations are made. The first suggested that the sounds are the result of superficial vocal-cord vibrations; essentially, air moves through the vocal cords as it would for any typical vocalization. However, the videos showed that the vocal cords weren't vibrating, even superficially.

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