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Article: New flora and fauna for old.(Christmas Specials)(Animals, plants and microbes can now migrate across the planet to new homes with unprecedented ease. Ought they to be stopped? Some, no doubt. But the arrival of new species is no novelty, and many have been harmless, some highly beneficial)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- December 23, 2000
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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FAR off in the South Atlantic, 2,500 kilometres (1,550 miles) from the nearest landmass, Africa, a war is being waged on a lonely spot called Gough Island. One side has suffered heavy casualties: over 1,000 dead this year, 63 alone on one particularly bloody night. The outcome of this interspecies warfare is a foregone conclusion, however: battered but unbowed, the mice are defeating the humans.
Out in its isolation, Gough is home to animals found nowhere else. The mice, however, arrived quite recently on sealing vessels. They now over-run the island, the base camp and the food store of the other newly arrived species: the currently ten intrepid scientists and ...