Roof rats (Rattus rattus) and deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) are occasional pests of nut and tree fruit orchards throughout California and in many other parts of the USA and beyond. In general, the most practical and cost-effective control method for rodents in many agricultural environments is the use of rodenticides (toxic baits), but little or no information exists on the efficacy of cur...

Comparative efficacy of brodifacoum, bromadialone (second-generation single-dose anticoagulant) was evaluated in a coconut crop on Minicoy Island. Preand postrodent control relative levels of rodent populations and damages were recorded as indices for assessing effectiveness of different concentrations and different bait formulations of three rodenticides. The black rat, Rattus rattus (Linnaeus...

Abstract Ecological factors, such as predation, have traditionally been used to explain sociability. However, it is increasingly recognised that individuals within a group do not associate randomly, and these non-random associations can generate fitness advantages. The majority of the empirical evidence on differentiated in group-living mammals, however, comes from limited number taxa we still ...

The genus Rattus is highly speciose, the taxonomy is complex, and individuals are often difficult to identify to the species level. Previous studies have demonstrated the usefulness of phylogenetic approaches to identification in Rattus but some species, especially among the endemics of the New Guinean region, showed poor resolution. Possible reasons for this are simple misidentification, incom...

The reciprocal exchange of goods and services among social partners is a conundrum in evolutionary biology because of its proneness to cheating, but also the behavioral and cognitive mechanisms involved in such mutual cooperation are hotly debated. Extreme viewpoints range from the assumption that, at the proximate level, observed cases of "direct reciprocity" can be merely explained by basic i...

Invasive rodent species have established on 80% of the world's islands causing significant damage to island environments. Insular ecosystems support proportionally more biodiversity than comparative mainland areas, highlighting them as critical for global biodiversity conservation. Few techniques currently exist to adequately detect, with high confidence, species that are trap-adverse such as t...

Europa and Juan-de-Nova are two little coral islands in the Mozambique Channel. They are only occupied by a troop detachment of 15 men, who exercise the French sovereignty and maintain the island. During these activities, the men work in dampness and they can encounter rats. The aim of this survey is to show presence of leptospirosis in these islands by testing rat kidney by specific PCR. The r...