“They spray formic acid that can blind or else deform the wings and legs of seabirds,” says Jayna DeVore, one of the scientists working out of the Tetiaroa Society’s eco-station on the main resort island of Onetahi. There are some 200 species of ants in Polynesia, all nonnative, but the yellow crazies are the worst. In 2007 the first yellow crazy ants ( Anoplolepis gracilipes) were identified on one of the same islands, or motus, of Tetiaroa Atoll in French Polynesia. A second hatchling is snatched by another rat, flipped on its back and dragged off. A rat grabs it by its head and quickly drags it off-camera. Suddenly a sea turtle hatchling appears, digging out of the nest. The black-and-white motion-triggered video looks like an outtake from a cheap horror movie: A handful of rats circle a smooth, platter-sized mound of sand. Scientists have been studying the atoll’s plants, seabirds, insects, lizards, crabs, coral and algae, establishing a uniquely comprehensive ecological baseline to better understand how the rat eradication will affect the atoll - and others like it.In July, the paradisiacal 12-island atoll was declared rat-free after years of concerted efforts to wipe out the predators.Like many islands around the world, Tetiaroa Atoll in French Polynesia has been overrun by rats and other invasive species that profoundly affect its terrestrial and marine ecosystems.
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