At the far end of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands lies Kuaihelani – also known as Midway Atoll – a small set of islands home to the world’s largest albatross colony. More than a million albatrosses return to Kuaihelani each year to breed. These seemingly pristine islands appear safe, but there’s a predator lurking among the seabirds.
House mice (Mus musculus) — the same kind that may be in your residence — have started to attack and kill albatrosses, eating them alive as they sit on their nests.
Wieteke Holthuijzen, a Ph.D. candidate in ecology and evolutionary biology, shares her research on the murderous mice attacking the albatross colony. Read about her findings at The Conversation.
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