Rat Renovation
The Zoo's 79 Plains Rats have thrived in their newly renovated home at Taronga Zoo's Nocturnal House.
The specially built wheel is definitely getting a work out, with the Plains Rats running up to 25 kilometres through the evening. Plains Rats are nocturnal animals and are most often seen in headlights running at high speed across tracks and away from vehicles.
The Nocturnal House is a unique environment at Taronga Zoo as the daylight is reversed. Being home to a host of Australia's creatures which are most active at night, as dawn begins to break in the outside world the Nocturnal House is experiencing sunset and the animals are starting to wake from their simulated daylight slumber and get ready for their nocturnal activities.
The Plains Rat was once widely distributed across inland Australia, but now is essentially restricted to cracking clay habitats in northern South Australia. Like many other arid zone mammals, Plains Rat populations can rapidly increase after a good rainfall, only to decline dramatically within months as conditions deteriorate.
Since European settlement, the numbers of Plains Rats has reduced significantly. Predators such as foxes, raptors and domestic pets have had an effect on the species, whilst grazing stock and introduced herbivores may damage the Plains Rats complex burrow systems and compact the soft cracking clays where they live.
Sadly rodents have a bad reputation, mainly due to introduced vermin such as the Black Rat, but many people don't realise that we have over 60 species of native rodents in Australia. Taronga's keepers call them the 'Forgotten Australians', and long for the day a visitor asks for directions to the Plains Rat exhibit!
Aussie rodents show an amazing diversity, ranging from the tiny hopping mouse, looking like a miniature kangaroo on it's spring like legs, to the equivalent of squirrels, our tree rats, which live in the trees and feed on native fruits and nuts.
Each species plays a vital role in the wild. Unfortunately for them, one of their main functions is as a base for the food chain. Native predators like Quolls, birds of prey and snakes depend on rodent populations as a reliable food source. Many species of rodent also act as seed dispersers, carrying seeds into their burrows which help germination. Here at Taronga Zoo there are five different rodent species on display and these exhibits are probably the most active and dynamic in the Zoo, smaller rodents in particular run their social lives at a hectic pace.
