Mice eating rare seabirds alive

Level 3 Advanced

1 Key words

Fill the gaps in the sentences using these key words from the text.

predator extinct endangered vulnerable eradicate

rodent evolves unmolested remote ornithologist

1. If someone or something is __________________, they are easy to attack.

2. A __________________ place is one that is very far from cities, towns or people.
3. If an animal is __________________, it is not disturbed or bothered by other animals.
4. If a creature is __________________, it no longer exists anywhere in the world.
5. A __________________ is a type of small animal that has long sharp front teeth.
6. When an animal __________________, its physical form changes over a long period of time.
7. An __________________ is someone who studies birds.
8. If you __________________ something, you get rid of it completely.
9. A __________________ is an animal that kills and eats other animals.
10. An __________________ species is one that may soon become extinct.

2 What do you know?

Decide whether these statements about wildlife on Gough Island in the South Atlantic are True (T) or
False (F). Then check your answers in the text.

1. Mice arrived in Gough Island on cruise ships.

2. The normal diet of house mice is insects and seeds.

3. The mice are 30 times bigger than the birds they kill.

4. More than half the young birds on Gough Island die in their nests.

5. One sixth of the world’s most endangered birds are on British territory.

6. The largest mice in the world live on Gough Island.

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NEWS LESSONS / Mice eating rare seabirds alive / Advanced

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Mice eating rare seabirds alive
Level 3 Advanced
From stowaway to supersize predator:
the mice eating rare seabirds alive
John Vidal, environment editor
May 20, 2008
1 For tens of thousands of years, the birds of
Gough Island lived unmolested, without predators
on a remote outcrop in the south Atlantic. Today,
the British-owned island, described as the home
of the most important seabird colony in the world,
still hosts 22 breeding species and is a world
heritage site. But as a terrible consequence of
the first whalers making landfall there 150 years
ago, Gough Island has become the stage for
one of nature’s great horror shows. Mice stowed
away on the whaling boats jumped ship and have
since multiplied to 700,000 or more on an island
of about 25 square miles.
2 What is horrifying ornithologists is that the British
house mouse has somehow evolved, growing to
up to three times the size of ordinary domestic
house mice, and instead of surviving on a diet
of insects and seeds, has adapted itself to
become a carnivore, eating albatross, petrel
and shearwater chicks alive in their nests. They
are now believed to be the largest mice in the
world. Birdlife International, a global alliance of
conservation groups, has recognized that the
mice, who are without predators themselves, are
out of control and threatening to make extinct
several of the world’s rarest bird species.
3 The organization, which runs the Red List of
endangered bird species, elevated the Tristan
albatross, of which only a few remain in the
world, and the Gough bunting, a small finch
found only on the island, to the list of the world’s
most critically endangered species, the highest
category of threat. Five other bird species on the
island are also said to be threatened.
4 The RSPB has proposed hiring helicopters to
drop thousands of tonnes of rodent poison on the
volcanic island, 2,000 miles off the coast of South
America. “A government-funded feasibility study
done with New Zealand, which has eradicated
© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2008
NEWS LESSONS / Mice eating rare seabirds alive / Advanced
rats from many islands, shows it is possible.
The mice would take the poison and just go to
their nests and die. We think it could be done
fairly easily and would cost about £2.6m,” a
spokeswoman said.
5 “Things are getting worse on Gough,” said Dr
Geoff Hilton, an RSPB scientist who has been
researching conservation problems in UK
overseas territories. “In the presence of house
mice, the albatross and bunting have no chance
of survival. The only hope for these threatened
birds is complete eradication of mice. The world’s
greatest seabird island is being eaten alive, as
the mice are likely to be affecting the fortunes
of many seabirds on the island. Without help
Gough Island will be likely to lose the majority of
seabirds,” said Hilton.
6 Those who have witnessed the phenomenon
say the mice attack at night either alone or in
groups, gnawing through the nests to get at
the baby birds. Their parents, who have never
experienced predators, are unable to defend
them. Studies suggest about 60% of all Gough’s
chicks die in their nests. “It is a catastrophe.
The albatross chicks weigh ten kilograms. They
evolved on Gough because it had no mammal
predators – that is why they are so vulnerable.
The mice weigh 35 grams; it is like a tabby cat
attacking a hippopotamus,” said Hilton.
7 Britain has long been criticized for not maintaining
the ecology of its overseas territories, which are
mainly made up of groups of islands such as
Pitcairn, Tristan da Cunha, and the Falklands. Of
the world’s 190 most endangered birds, 32 are now
officially British responsibility.
8 The RSPB’s spokeswoman added: “The study
shows there is a glimmer of light. The UK
government has supported us in discovering
the problem, in conducting the feasibility study,
and now in finalizing our plan for the mouse
eradication. The big question is whether the UK
will take its international commitments seriously
and do what the governments of New Zealand
and Australia have done, and provide the
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Mice eating rare seabirds alive
Level 3 Advanced

big money needed to actually do the mouse
eradication. If they don’t, we won’t be able to
give two critically threatened species the lifeline
they need.”
9 The discovery that the mice had adapted their
diets and supersized themselves was made by
Richard Cuthbert, a professional ornithologist
who spent a year on the island in 2001 and
stumbled on the phenomenon as he was
leaving. “It sounds incredulous, implausible that
a mouse could attack a chick, but these chicks
are really big spherical balls of fat covered in
down, and because they are so fat and big they
cannot defend themselves,” he said.
© Guardian News & Media 2008
First published in The Guardian, 20/05/08

3 Comprehension check

Choose the best answer according to the text.

1. What is the only hope for the survival of the endangered bird species on Gough Island?
a. That insects and seeds are introduced to the island to feed the mice.
b. That the mice are taken from the island and sent elsewhere.
c. That the mice are destroyed by poison.

2. Why can’t the parents defend their chicks?

a. Because the mice are too big.
b. Because they have no experience of predators.
c. Because they are too fat.

3. What is the ‘glimmer of light’ referred to in the text?

a. The fact that New Zealand and Australia have eradicated rats from islands.
b. The fact that the UK government has supported the RSPB and the feasibility study.
c. The fact that the cold South Atlantic weather may kill the mice.

4. Which answer best describes how the Gough Island mice have evolved?
a. They have become much bigger and now only eat meat.
b. They have stopped eating insects and seeds and started eating birds.
c. They have adapted their diets and grown to up to three times the size of ordinary domestic house mice.
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NEWS LESSONS / Mice eating rare seabirds alive / Advanced

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Mice eating rare seabirds alive
Level 3 Advanced
4 Find the word
Look in the text and find the following words and expressions. The paragraph numbers are given to
help you.
1. A noun meaning a rock or group of rocks. (para 1)
2. A two-word expression meaning to arrive on land after a long voyage. (para 1)
3. A phrasal verb meaning to hide in a ship or plane and travel without permission. (para 1)
4. A two-word expression meaning to leave a ship without permission. (para 1)
5. A two-word expression meaning a report on the chances something has of being successful. (para 4)
6. A verb meaning to keep biting something. (para 6)
7. A phrasal verb meaning to find something by accident. (para 9)
8. An adjective meaning difficult to accept as true. (para 9)

5 Chunks

Rearrange the words to make phrases from the text. Check your answers in the text.
1. house domestic mice ordinary
2. the species bird rarest of several world’s
3. feasibility a funded study government
4. most the critically world’s species endangered
5. of groups alliance a conservation global
6. the colony most world in the seabird important

6 Word formation

Complete the sentences about the text using the correct form of the word in brackets at the end of each
sentence.
1. The effects of the growing numbers of mice on Gough Island could be _______________ for the bird population.
[catastrophe]
2. The UK government has supported the RSPB _______________. [propose]
3. Britain’s _______________ of the ecology of its overseas territories has been criticized. [maintain]
4. The Tristan albatross and Gough bunting are facing _______________. [extinct]
5. The _______________ of the Gough Island mice is extraordinary. [evolve]
6. The birds have no defence against the mice; they are _______________. [defend]

6 Discussion

Is it important if rare species become extinct? Should governments and conservationists intervene in
situations like this or should they simply let nature take its course?
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NEWS LESSONS / Mice eating rare seabirds alive / Advanced

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Mice eating rare seabirds alive
Level 3 Advanced

KEY

1 Key words 4 Find the word

1. vulnerable 1. outcrop
2. remote 2. make landfall
3. unmolested 3. stow away
4. extinct 4. jump ship
5. rodent 5. feasibility study
6. evolves 6. gnaw
7. ornithologist 7. stumble on
8. eradicate 8. implausible
9. predator
10. endangered
5 Chunks

2 What do you know? 1. ordinary domestic house mice

2. several of the world’s rarest bird species
1. F 3. a government-funded feasibility study
2. T 4. the world’s most critically endangered species
3. F 5. a global alliance of conservation groups
4. T 6. the most important seabird colony in the world
5. T
6. T
6 Word formation

3 Comprehension check 1. catastrophic

2. proposal
1. c 3. maintenance
2. b 4. extinction
3. b 5. evolution
4. c 6. defenceless
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NEWS LESSONS / Mice eating rare seabirds alive / Advanced

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