Hatrack River Forum: Rat swims 1,300 feet across open ocean?

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Posted by Beren One Hand (Member # 3403) on :

quote:
Undated -- It seemed like a good idea. Let a lone rat loose on a rodent-free island and then figure out how to kill it. That way, when other islands are invaded by rats, you'll know what to do.

Scientists figured they'd trap this foot-long varmint in no time.

Eighteen weeks later, they finally trapped it with some fresh penguin bait. On another island....

Then the researchers found rat feces on the island of Otata, 1,300 feet away across the open ocean. The DNA was a match, confirming a suspicion scientists had, that rats were good swimmers. WFMY News

That conclusion seems a bit too fantastic. Isn't it more likely that the rat hitched a ride on a ship?

Posted by Nell Gwyn (Member # 8291) on :

I read about this on the BBC's website. If it did actually swim that far, I'm shocked a shark or some other predator didn't get it.

I was also disturbed by the use of penguin meat as a bribe, and the fact that they killed the rat - does that mean it had some kind of disease or something? And if so, what the heck were they doing setting it loose in the first place? I'd think they'd want to study that particular rat to make sure the swim wasn't due to some freak mutation or something, rather than a species-wide inherent ability.

But probably copious details were left out of the articles, so maybe they did check for weird variables.

Posted by Beren One Hand (Member # 3403) on :

Good point about the study. It could be a super rat holding secrets to curing cancer or something. [Smile]

Posted by Darth Ender (Member # 7694) on :

He used the force

Posted by Nell Gwyn (Member # 8291) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Darth Ender:
He used the force

Ah. Of course, that explains it perfectly. [Smile]

Posted by Beren One Hand (Member # 3403) on :

The force couldn't get Anakin over ten feet of lava, you think it could propel a rat across the ocean? [Razz]

Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :

Why must it have swum? Could it not have constructed a rat raft? Or been swallowed whole by a large fish and then disgorged on the shore of another island? Perhaps rat #1 remained on island #1, but constructed a genetics lab, cloned itself, seeded the young clones across the sea via hot air balloons.

And how many jobs out-rank looking for rat feces on remote islands? I know that mine does.

Posted by Jonathan Howard (Member # 6934) on :

I think it's a Soviet government (it's still there!) conspiracy, and that the entire thing was planned by Elvis Presley on the Moon.

Posted by Art Vandelay (Member # 8690) on :

1300 feet isn't that far.

Nutria are in the rat family, although they're designed to spend a lot of time in the water so I guess that's different.

Dogs and cats could easily swim that far, why not rats?

Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :

Maybe a swimming dog was chasing the swimming cat which was chasing the swimming rat.