Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus Rattus. Other rat genera include Neotoma, Bandicota and Dipodomys.
The black rat, also known as ship rat, roof rat, or house rat—is a common long-tailed rodent of the stereotypical rat genus Rattus, in the subfamily Murinae.
Anacapa Island is a small volcanic island located about 11 miles (18 km) off the coast of Port Hueneme, California, in Ventura County. The island is composed of a series of narrow islets 6 mi (10 km) long, oriented generally east–west and 5 mi (8 km) east of Santa Cruz Island. The three main islets, East, Middle and West Anacapa, are collectively known as The Anacapas by some authors. All three islets have precipitous cliffs, dropping off steeply into the sea.
The Virgin Islands National Park is an American national park preserving about 60% of the land area of Saint John in the United States Virgin Islands, as well as more than 5,500 acres of adjacent ocean, and nearly all of Hassel Island, just off the Charlotte Amalie, Saint Thomas harbor.
The Polynesian rat, Pacific rat or little rat, known to the Māori as kiore, is the third most widespread species of rat in the world behind the brown rat and black rat. The Polynesian rat originated in Southeast Asia, and like its relatives, has become widespread, migrating to most Polynesian islands, including New Zealand, the Marshall Islands, Easter Island, and Hawaii. It shares high adaptability with other rat species extending to many environments, from grasslands to forests. It is also closely associated with humans, who provide easy access to food. It has become a major pest in most areas of its distribution.
Jost Van Dyke is the smallest of the four main islands of the British Virgin Islands, measuring roughly 8 square kilometres. It rests in the northern portion of the archipelago of the Virgin Islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. Jost Van Dyke lies about 8 km (5 mi) to the northwest of Tortola and 8 km (5 mi) to the north of Saint John. Little Jost Van Dyke lies off its eastern end.
An ecological island is not necessarily an island surrounded by water, but is an area of land, isolated by natural or artificial means from the surrounding land, where a natural micro-habitat exists amidst a larger differing ecosystem.
North Seymour is a small island near Baltra Island in the Galápagos Islands. It was formed by uplift of a submarine lava formation. The whole island is covered with low, bushy vegetation.
Green Cay is an uninhabited island of the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean. It sits between the eastern tip of Little Jost Van Dyke and Tortola. It is 14 acres (6 ha) in area.
The Javan mongoose is a mongoose species native to South and Southeast Asia that has also been introduced to many regions of the world.
Joost van Dyk was a Dutch privateer who was one of the earliest European settlers in the British Virgin Islands in the seventeenth century, and established the first permanent settlements within the Territory. The islands of Jost Van Dyke and its smaller neighbor Little Jost Van Dyke, as well as Little Dix Bay on Virgin Gorda island, are named after him.
Little Jost Van Dyke is one of the British Virgin Islands. It is a small island on the east end of the island of Jost Van Dyke. Like Jost Van Dyke, it takes its name from the Dutch privateer Joost van Dyk. It is the location of the Diamond Cay National Park, which includes the nesting grounds of wild boobies, terns and pelicans.
The Christmas Island shrew, also known as the Christmas Island musk-shrew is an extremely rare or possibly extinct shrew from Christmas Island. It was variously placed as subspecies of the Asian gray shrew or the Southeast Asian shrew, but morphological differences and the large distance between the species indicate that it is an entirely distinct species.
Diamond Cay is a tiny islet located just off Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean. At low tide, it is connected by a sandbar to Jost Van Dyke. It was declared a national park in 1991. The Diamond Cay National Park provides habitat for pelicans, terns and boobies to nest.
Great Tobago is an uninhabited island of the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean, located, along with sister island Little Tobago, approximately six miles west of Jost Van Dyke. The Tobagos are the westernmost of the British Virgin Islands.
Little Tobago is an uninhabited island of the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean, located, along with sister island Great Tobago, approximately six miles west of Jost Van Dyke. The Tobagos are the westernmost of the British Virgin Islands.
Mount Sage National Park is a protected area of the British Virgin Islands. It is named after the highest peak of the island of Tortola, Mount Sage. The Mount Sage volcanic peak rises to a height of 1,716 feet (523 m), and is thus the highest point in all of the Virgin Islands. The park is located to the southwest of the island group's capital, Road Town. The park, which includes the mountain range, extends over an area of 96 acres (39 ha). The vegetation is of semi-rain forest type. There are many trails for trekking and hiking.
Raratoka Island is a small island 86 hectares in Foveaux Strait off the coast of Stewart Island / Rakiura, New Zealand. It is located 25 kilometres (16 mi) north of Stewart island's northernmost point, Black Rock Point, and 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) southwest of the Southland town of Riverton on the South Island mainland. Several small reefs surround the island, notably Escape Reefs, 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) to the east, and Hapuka Rock, 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) to the southwest.
Seabirds include some of the most threatened taxa anywhere in the world. For example, of extant albatross species, 82% are listed as threatened, endangered, or critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The two leading threats to seabirds are accidental bycatch by commercial fishing operations and introduced mammals on their breeding islands. Mammals are typically brought to remote islands by humans either accidentally as stowaways on ships, or deliberately for hunting, ranching, or biological control of previously introduced species. Introduced mammals have a multitude of negative effects on seabirds including direct and indirect effects. Direct effects include predation and disruption of breeding activities, and indirect effects include habitat transformation due to overgrazing and major shifts in nutrient cycling due to a halting of nutrient subsidies from seabird excrement. There are other invasive species on islands that wreak havoc on native bird populations, but mammals are by far the most commonly introduced species to islands and the most detrimental to breeding seabirds. Despite efforts to remove introduced mammals from these remote islands, invasive mammals are still present on roughly 80% of islands worldwide.
