New Zealand’s War on Rats (2017)

Re:New Zealand’s War on Rats (2017) by Eric_WVGG on Saturday April 21, 2018 @08:05PM (#16894052)

My favorite book by the late Douglas Adams is "Last Chance to See," a nonfiction project where he travelled around the world for a year looking for various endangered species. The chapter about a fat sort of parrot called the kakapo talks about the challenges of keeping rats out — boats are not even allowed to dock on the New Zealand island where the last remaining kakapo live.

(I once emailed Adams asking when a paperback edition of this book would be made available; he replied three years later, saying that it was finally in print behind "the ugliest cover I've ever seen in my life." The contemporary cover is not quite so bad.)

https://www.amazon.com/Last-Chance-See-Douglas-Adams/dp/0345...

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Re:New Zealand’s War on Rats (2017) by Hallucinaut on Saturday April 21, 2018 @08:39PM (#16894148)

Kākāpō live on three islands these days, all having been made pest free. Though where they were rediscovered in the 60s is absolutely not pest-free, though is sparsely populated being at the extreme southern tip.

As a kid I used to go to the zoo and I remember the exhibit showing the population dropping to 59 birds, and feeling a deep dread about potentially losing them. It gives me hope that we've managed to bring them back to over 120 birds, I just wish other cultures had the luxury to be able to invest so much into protecting them that NZ is able to.

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Re:New Zealand’s War on Rats (2017) by justinator on Saturday April 21, 2018 @09:39PM (#16894304)

http://cultofthepartyparrot.com/

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Re:New Zealand’s War on Rats (2017) by EdwardDiego on Sunday April 22, 2018 @10:23AM (#16896280)

Oh Sirocco, you sexy head-raping parrot you, what have you inspired.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T1vfsHYiKY

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Re:New Zealand’s War on Rats (2017) by ItsMe000001 on Sunday April 22, 2018 @06:27AM (#16895550)

I would like to add that, having read them all, I also believe that this is the funniest of all his books. I laughed way more often and much louder than at any point of THHGTTG. That reminds me that I have to reread the section where he describes German tourists in his group (I'm German)...

Seriously, if you are thinking about giving a book as a gift to someone and can't think of which one to choose, this one is as safe as it gets.

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Re:New Zealand’s War on Rats (2017) by simonebrunozzi on Sunday April 22, 2018 @01:04PM (#16897103)

You are going to LOVE this video then: https://www.ted.com/talks/douglas_adams_parrots_the_universe...

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