Australia holds a sad record: nowhere in the world have more mammals died out in modern times than on the Fifth Continent. In addition to habitat destruction, introduced species such as foxes or cats that hunt the marsupials are also to blame. A working group led by Kyle Brewer from the University of South Australia in Adelaide presented a new possibility in "ACS Polymer Materials" to protect rare species from predators: endangered species such as the rabbit nose pouch (Macrotis lagotis) could have poison pills implanted under the skin, which dissolve in the stomach of the predator and thus eliminate it.
The victim killed would then no longer be helped, but other conspecifics would be better protected, according to the idea. So far, one has been trying to protect endangered bags and other species with various measures, for example by fenced by certain areas and freed from the overgrown cats and foxes. Cats in particular, however, always manage to overcome the fences. At the same time, in contrast to the foxes, they only rarely eat AAS, so that they can hardly be combated by laid out poison bait. Self -shot systems have already been developed that spray poison on cats when they trigger the trap. Even individual cats can destroy local stocks of endangered species, as studies have shown.
The idea of Brewer and Co, on the other hand, starts directly with the hunting strategy of the cats. The team therefore develops poison pills with sodium fluetate, also known as a Rodenizi 1080, the protective cover of which only dissolves in acidic environment: the stomach of cats, for example. And even if small quantities of 1080 out under the skin, animals such as the rabbit nose bags could handle it. A very similar substance appears in your food as 1080, so that you have a certain resistance to it. Even three or four broken pills in the body would not reach the lethal dose for the bag animals.
However, a first field test could not be carried out as planned, reports "The Newdaily": The very moist Australian winter caused a lot of food, so that the mouse stock in the study area scored. The cats are therefore not currently observing the bags and instead eat the more numerous mice. At the end of this phase, the cat population, which was probably also grown, should turn back to the bags, the scientists fear in the newspaper.
If the method works for rabbit nose bags, the researchers also want to use them in other endangered species. Many Australian animals are immune to poison due to the existence of 1080 in nature.
