Rats often get a bad rap, but one outlier, dubbed an ecological hero, may contribute to an increase in native species on the Northern Beaches.
Native bush rats – or bogul in the Dharug language – have been released at Allenby Reserve, Allambie Heights and Twin Creeks Reserve, Ku-Ring-Gai, in hopes of improving biodiversity and reintroducing native animals into cities.
The rewilding project is part of a large collaborative effort between universities, local and state governments, and not-for-profits to not only improve ecological relationships but also to push invasive pests out.
“The bush rat is our urban rewilding pioneer. They are shy and small but really ecologically powerful. I think they’re the unsung heroes of our native bushland,” University of Sydney PhD candidate Mareshell Wauchope told Manly Observer, who joined the team’s rewilding release at Allenby Reserve.
“By getting these guys in, they are native pollinators. They disperse seeds. They eat fungi, so they disperse fungi spores. And their superpower, I suppose, is managing invasive rodents.”
Rat Attacks
Black rats are an invasive species plaguing Australian bushlands. Directly, they push out native animals such as the bush rat, while diminishing the numbers of birds and reptiles through predatory actions. Indirectly, their theorised connections to the literal bubonic plague led to the mass cull of rats when a bounty was placed on the rodents in the early 20th century as part of efforts to contain the disease.
This radically decreased the bogul or Bush rat population; their presence was recorded as missing from 50 per cent of reserves after recent surveys by University of Sydney.
So far, 24 rats have been released in the reserves, with 40 more on the way.
Tracking a rat in the bush is not unlike finding a needle in a haystack. To achieve this, you’ll need to bring a magnet, which is exactly what the VHF radio tracking collar attached to the rats are for.
However, even with this and their camera traps combined, losing track of the animals was still a real problem. Once released, boguls can travel kilometres away, outside the reserve, in just days, making the rewilding process in the specific area redundant. To cater for this challenge, a stinky solution was implemented.
“Our native rodents, like many of our mammals, use scent communication to basically talk about who’s where. So we’ve essentially placed bits of towel on the ground that we collected during the trapping of these animals, and they’ve marked all over them. They’re really smelly. They’ve got quite a unique sort of smoky smell. And we’ve cut that up, and we’ve placed that on the ground around where we’ve released them, and we’re hoping that that will anchor them into these locations and whereabouts,” Mareshell shared.
What The Future May Hold
Project leaders are already recording a comeback from the bush rat, holding the territory of their reclaimed home.
If the project is successful, positive change can be expected within the first year. This could look like an increase in numbers and varieties of reptiles and bird species through the reduction of black rats who prey on nestlings and nest eggs.
In the longer term, it may see a renewed revival of the ecosystem.
“[Bush rats] are really amazing pollinators, particularly of things like our banksias and some of our grevilleas. And so hopefully over time, what we see is a healthier ecosystem, perhaps more germination of some of these plants. But, that’s probably within five years, so a bit more down the track,” Mareshell said.
