General Knowledge Quiz

[Gloster]

Is it hedgehogs and mice on one of the Scottish islands: Colonsay?

 

[Peterthegreat]

Is it the island of Innchconnachen? If so one of the creatures would be wallabies.

 

[Calthrop]

@xotGD said: Puffins and hedgehogs, somewhere of the west coast of Scotland?

Is it hedgehogs and mice on one of the Scottish islands: Colonsay?

Is it the island of Innchconnachen? If so one of the creatures would be wallabies.

@Gloster: it isn't hedgehogs or mice, nor Colonsay. @Peterthegreat: it isn't Inchconnachen and its wallabies. @xotGD: you're very close, including general location of the spot -- but you have one species right and one wrong; and from what we've got as above: which is which, can be deduced. I'm ready to give it you if you can tell us rightly -- with some precision -- what the species is, which as of now, you haven't got right.

 

[xotGD]

Puffins and mountain goats?

 

[Calthrop]

Er, would you believe it, not mountain goats. The "mystery species" is mammalian, though.

 

[xotGD]

Pine martens?

 

[Calthrop]

Not pine martens either. A rare and strange variety of a creature generally not found the slightest bit rare or strange -- a degree of precision here, would ideally be hoped for.

 

[341o2]

Mink? Not sure it fits your description, but being released into the wild by animal rights activists causes all sorts of problems

 

[Calthrop]

Mink? Not sure it fits your description, but being released into the wild by animal rights activists causes all sorts of problems

Not mink.

Nobody's got the mammal yet -- nearly everyone's submitted mammal has been too big. (@Gloster has been closest, though not spot-on; and I'm not quite sure which role in the problem, he meant which of his species to play.)

 

[DaleCooper]

Not mink.

Nobody's got the mammal yet -- nearly everyone's submitted mammal has been too big. (@Gloster has been closest, though not spot-on; and I'm not quite sure which role in the problem, he meant which of his species to play.)

Shrew

 

[Calthrop]

Shrew

Too little ! (This isn't a wind-up -- honest !)

 

[DaleCooper]

Too little ! (This isn't a wind-up -- honest !)

Cat

 

[Calthrop]

Think of the Quartermaster's Stores ...

 

[EbbwJunction1]

There were rats, rats, big as blooming cats, in the stores, in the stores ... ?

 

[341o2]

You beat me to it!
May I add, however, that rats are a worldwide problem to wildlife, for example. South Georgia Island where rats arriving from ships have decimated the island's animal and bird population

 

[Calthrop]

Rats it is ! Not just any old rats, though -- "more specific" is sought.

 

[341o2]

If it isn't the brown rat, it must be the black one

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Rats it is ! Not just any old rats, though -- "more specific" is sought.

Ultra rats?!

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Rats it is ! Not just any old rats, though -- "more specific" is sought.

"As big as alley cats!"

 

[Calthrop]

If it isn't the brown rat, it must be the black one

That's it: the -- in Britain -- decidedly rare black rat (Rattus rattus), not the common brown kind (Rattus norvegicus).

Rats (black) and puffins, is the problem affecting the place concerned -- the former have tended to prey on the latter (as @341o2 remarks, a frequent cause of trouble on the wildlife scene) . I suspect we're getting towards the "end-game" -- see some difficulty re who's the victor: one participant got "puffins" and -- very broadly and generally -- the location; another was the first to submit "rats", after considerable to-ing and fro-ing; yet another submitted the correct type of rat. I'm posting here in haste -- will be away from computer now for some hours; will ask leave to ponder for a while, where best to go next.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Presume the rat-infested Scottish island in question was Inchcolm (on the Fife coast side of the Firth of Forth)?

 

[Calthrop]

Presume the rat-infested Scottish island in question was Inchcolm (on the Fife coast side of the Firth of Forth)?

In fact, no -- it is, as @xotGD said, "somewhere off the west coast of Scotland". I won't, here, let the cat (rat, puffin) out of the bag just yet: will just say that it's a small group of small islands.

 

[Calthrop]

As in my recent post: my feeling -- we've gone as far as we're likely to, in direction of correct answering. Different key elements, provided by @xotGD, @EbbwJunction1, and @341o2. Would you three gentlemen consider a tie-breaker between you: fresh question; the first to answer correctly, would be the next setter?

 

[341o2]

The answer of black rat was virtually given by elimination, so count me out

 

[Calthrop]

The answer of black rat was virtually given by elimination, so count me out

OK -- @xotGD, @EbbwJunction1 ?

 

[xotGD]

I am tied up today so happy to stand aside.

 

[Calthrop]

So @EbbwJunction1 is "last man standing" -- to set the next question.

Finishing the tale, "for info": the location of the puffins-versus-black-rats saga, is the tiny Shiant Islands, in the North Minch, between the mainland / Skye / the island of Lewis-plus-Harris. One of Britain's biggest puffin-breeding-colonies spots; also the last place in Britain to have a meaningful-sized population of black rats (was "only" -- no brown ones). This was bad news for the puffins and other summer-visiting breeding birds; but for many decades, the thing kind-of regulated itself. In the spring / early summer breeding season, rats ate very many puffins / puffin chicks / eggs, and the rat population accordingly went way up; but there were puffins in such great numbers, that many survived -- when after the end of the breeding season, the puffins left, taking to the sea: the rat population nosedived, but a fair number survived until next spring / summer. In recent years, though -- with puffins being in trouble, and numbers declining, throughout Britain -- conservationists concluded that the Shiants' puffinry was invaluable: decided to give Rattus rattus his marching orders, and were not hindered from doing so -- measures were taken to eradicate the islands' rat population: this was successfully completed by early 2018. There are some who feel that consideration should have been given also, to the great rarity of the black rat; with this being the species's last stronghold in any sense-with-meaning. For sure, altogether a difficult situation.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

There is another -- very different -- British island situation, featuring two different populations of less-than-common wildlife species, of interest to naturalists: the two different species there, have had problematic dealings with each other; which matter, and human involvement therewith, has been in the news in the past couple of years -- some controversy involved.

...measures were taken to eradicate the islands' rat population: this was successfully completed by early 2018.

Not the worst question we've ever had on here, but 2018 isn't really in the "last couple of years, is it?"

 

[Calthrop]

Not the worst question we've ever had on here, but 2018 isn't really in the "last couple of years, is it?"

Mea culpa, to some extent -- framed the question rather in haste, before researching as much as I should have; but -- even with the rats gone five years ago, people are still arguing about the issue.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Thanks, but I don't have anything at the moment, so I'll declare an open floor.