Abstract
Kiore (Pacific rat; Rattus exulans) is both a target for eradication and a taonga or highly valued species in New Zealand, and its abundance and distribution vary considerably throughout the country. We investigated reports of an abundant kiore population on Slipper Island (Whakahau), off the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island, in March 2017. We trapped kiore to examine their distribution across a range of habitats with varying degrees of human activity. Kiore were captured in all habitats, with particularly high abundance at a campground with a fruiting fig tree (50 kiore per 100 trap nights corrected for sprung traps). We found no evidence of other rat species; Slipper Island appears to remain one of few New Zealand islands with kiore but without ship rats (Rattus rattus) and Norway rats (R. norvegicus), the two other rat species present in New Zealand. Slipper Island potentially provides opportunities to research kiore behaviour and population dynamics in a New Zealand commensal environment, and genetics of an isolated island population.
Ki ētahi ko te kiore muritai (Rattus exulans) he kīrearea hei haepapa. Ki ētahi atu anō, he taonga kāmehameha ki Aotearoa. Ko tōna huhua me te marara hoki o tana noho ka tāhapa ki tēnā ki tēnā tauwāhi o te motu. I mātaihia e mātou ētahi pūrongo (mai i te tau 2017) e kiia nei he taupori huhua e noho ana ki runga o te moutere Whakahau, ki waho atu o te takutai rāwhiti o te Ika a Māui. I tārorehia ētahi kiore muritai e mātou hei mātakitaki i te whānui o tā rātou noho marara puta noa i ētahi nohoanga whakaehu i runga anō i te tokomaha, te tokoiti rānei o te tangata. I hopukina ngā kiore muritai nei ki ngā momo nohoanga katoa (ahakoa te tokomaha te tokoiti rānei o te tangata). E hia kē ngā kiore i hopukina ki tētahi whenua-puni i reira he rākau piki (Ficus carica) e tipu ana i taua wāhi, 50 ngā kiore i hopukina i ngā pō tārore 100. Ka mutu, i whakatikahia tēnei nama mō ngā tārore turupana. Kāore mātou i kite taunakitanga mō ētahi atu momo kiore. Te āhua nei ko te moutere Whakahau tētahi o ngā moutere whakamutunga o Aotearoa kei reira te kiore muritai e noho tonu ana engari kāore hoki i reira te kiore kaipuke (Rattus rattus) te kiore nōwei rānei (R. norvegicus). Ko ēnei momo kiore e rua e kitea whānuitia ana ki Aotearoa. Kei runga o Whakahau pea te āheinga kia rangahauhia ngā whanonga me ngā taitaupori o te kiore muritai ki tētahi nohoanga tauutuutu ki Aotearoa. Kei reira hoki te āheinga kia rangahauhia ngā mātauranga momo whakaheke o te kiore nei ki te taupori pūreirei ā moutere nei.