Giant Hideaway Tree-Lobsters Make News!

[Bella Fortuna]

It's not a new story but I don't remember seeing it when it came out...

I don't want the damned things anywhere near me, but this is a pretty nifty story!

http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2012/ ... r-80-years

[tattuchu]

Holy shit! Forget about the insects. Who cares? Look at that guy's eyebrows!

[Trinity]

Amazing!!! What beautiful creatures

[Horwood Beer-Master]

It was a pretty cool story when it first came out as well

[PsychoSerenity]

I'd not seen this before. Just that island is amazing enough - a thin splinter of rock stretching half a kilometre out of the sea - but that those incredible critters survived there for so long, it's like an epic fantasy adventure. If they could tell stories...

[Blind groper]

I had 12 days on Lord Howe Island a few years back. The sea was sadly too rough to get to
Ball's Pyramid, but we climbed Mt. Gower and saw it in the distance.

We also saw plenty of rats. Why are people so bloody stupid? The techniques for ridding an island like Lord Howe of rats are well established and proven. Not only insects would benefit, but birds and people.

[mistermack]

In the meantime, I would design and build half-a-dozen planters, and take them out to the spire, and screw them to the rock.
Plant the same species of bush that they are feeding on, and set up a watering system that collects and stores rainwater.

Within a short time, you could have a much larger colony living there, with all the genes available of the resident population.
It would be a lot easier and quicker and cheaper than exterminating the rats on the big Island. Although that would be a good idea too.

The animals in the zoo must have a very small gene pool, so preserving the ones on the spire would be very important.

[JimC]

In the meantime, I would design and build half-a-dozen planters, and take them out to the spire, and screw them to the rock.
Plant the same species of bush that they are feeding on, and set up a watering system that collects and stores rainwater.

Within a short time, you could have a much larger colony living there, with all the genes available of the resident population.
It would be a lot easier and quicker and cheaper than exterminating the rats on the big Island. Although that would be a good idea too.

The animals in the zoo must have a very small gene pool, so preserving the ones on the spire would be very important.

Could be a good, practical idea, as long as doing it didn't negatively disturb the existing population...

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Why do I keep seeing this?

[sarcasm][/sarcasm]

[mistermack]

In the meantime, I would design and build half-a-dozen planters, and take them out to the spire, and screw them to the rock.
Plant the same species of bush that they are feeding on, and set up a watering system that collects and stores rainwater.

Within a short time, you could have a much larger colony living there, with all the genes available of the resident population.
It would be a lot easier and quicker and cheaper than exterminating the rats on the big Island. Although that would be a good idea too.

The animals in the zoo must have a very small gene pool, so preserving the ones on the spire would be very important.

Could be a good, practical idea, as long as doing it didn't negatively disturb the existing population...

I would think you could eliminate that risk. If you planted the bushes no nearer than 20 metres away, there would be no chance of disturbing the existing bush. I'm pretty sure that they would find them and colonise them.
Going on the earlier reports of climbers finding insect skeletons, it sounds like they roam around the rock looking for food.

It's nice that they found them. My pet hate, above all pet hates, is extinctions, even of "useless" species.

( I'm prepared to make an exception for smallpox and the flu viruses, and herpes and such like )

[Faithfree]

... When Jane Goodall visited in 2008, Patrick showed her rows and rows of incubating eggs: 11,376 at that time, with about 700 adults in the captive population. ...

Breeding like .. um .. stick insects. They may well be the food of the future.

I've often thought of going to Lord Howe Island. If I do, I'd like to take a boat trip out to Balls Pyramid, but might skip the climb. Have to book well in advance as they only allow 400 visitors on the island (Lord Howe, that is) at a time.

[mistermack]

... When Jane Goodall visited in 2008, Patrick showed her rows and rows of incubating eggs: 11,376 at that time, with about 700 adults in the captive population. ...

Breeding like .. um .. stick insects. They may well be the food of the future.

I've often thought of going to Lord Howe Island. If I do, I'd like to take a boat trip out to Balls Pyramid, but might skip the climb. Have to book well in advance as they only allow 400 visitors on the island (Lord Howe, that is) at a time.

Unfortunately, having 11,000 bred doesn’t mean that the species is safe, as the genes are all derived from two individuals taken from the pyramid.
I’d like them to breed from as many different individuals as possible, to save the gene pool.

What’s to see on Lord Howe Island? Black rats? Or people dying from Bubonic Plague?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

... When Jane Goodall visited in 2008, Patrick showed her rows and rows of incubating eggs: 11,376 at that time, with about 700 adults in the captive population. ...

Breeding like .. um .. stick insects. They may well be the food of the future.

I've often thought of going to Lord Howe Island. If I do, I'd like to take a boat trip out to Balls Pyramid, but might skip the climb. Have to book well in advance as they only allow 400 visitors on the island (Lord Howe, that is) at a time.

Unfortunately, having 11,000 bred doesn’t mean that the species is safe, as the genes are all derived from two individuals taken from the pyramid.
I’d like them to breed from as many different individuals as possible, to save the gene pool.

What’s to see on Lord Howe Island? Black rats? Or people dying from Bubonic Plague?

We are breeding back the Mexican Grey Wolf from just six individuals. So far, no problems genetically.

[mistermack]

We are breeding back the Mexican Grey Wolf from just six individuals. So far, no problems genetically.

That doesn't really mean much. A small gene pool can mean higher vulnerability to all sorts of killer diseases.
With an extremely small gene pool, if something infectious kills one, it will most probably kill the lot. You don't have those odd few individuals with stronger immunity, as a backup to save the species.

Inbreeding problems are not the only downside to a small gene pool.

Having said that, six individuals is three times better than two.