# Mouse plague in Australia **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 1, 2021, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-plague-in-australia/941151 "2021-05-01T09:49:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2021, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-plague-in-australia/941151/1 "2021-05-01T09:49:25Z")
Article in WaPo about a plague of mice in Australia: > **[Opinion | Australia’s ‘mice plague’ is horrific. Consider yourself warned.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/04/29/australia-mice-plague-animals/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F321dea8%2F608c26a59d2fdae3023e2ba8%2F5fa00bbc9bbc0f3316b10a82%2F16%2F70%2F608c26a59d2fdae3023e2ba8)** > > While the world loves discussing attacks by Australia’s sharks, crocodiles and spiders, it’s an army of tiny mice that win the prize for the imposition of widespread misery. (Sorry if that’s behind a paywall for you.) It doesn’t give a reason for it. I’m wondering if they’ve gotten too good at removing stray cats. Also, are the mice foreign invaders? Unless they’re marsupial mice, I would expect so. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2021, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-plague-in-australia/941151/2 "2021-05-01T10:42:02Z")
At least it isn’t a deliberate thing like the [cane toads] ([10 Facts about cane toads – WWF-Australia - WWF-Australia](https://www.wwf.org.au/news/blogs/10-facts-about-cane-toads#gs.zjfct1)) When I worked in a factory in London, we opened a crate with a machine from France packed in wood wool. There was a female mouse with a whole litter of babies who promptly scattered. We were finding mice, or evidence of them, for months. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2021, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-plague-in-australia/941151/3 "2021-05-01T12:48:43Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > It doesn’t give a reason for it. I’m wondering if they’ve gotten too good at removing stray cats. Also, are the mice foreign invaders? Unless they’re marsupial mice, I would expect so. Yes they are introduced mice. Basically the reason is the same as any plague - exponential growth supported by sufficient available food. The last season was unusually wet and productive. Once the population gets past a certain point no amount of predation can hold it back. Once they get into the grain fields and grain store things can get really grim. You are fighting exponential growth with only a constant attrition capability. You could go out with a flame thrower and still not make any reasonable difference. Eventually they run out of accessible food, and then the plague burns itself out. Australia has a serious problem with feral cats. The odd stray doesn’t even figure in the numbers. But a cat can only eat so much, and they have a much longer breeding cycle than mice. So even in perfect circumstances, the mice will outstrip the predators. In general Oz doesn’t have many predators out there munching mice. Snakes would be great, but they will eat and go and curl up for a snooze for ages. The snakes are having a mini-boom of their own, but their breeding cycle is vastly longer, than a mouse, so again, they won’t track the mouse numbers. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2021, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-plague-in-australia/941151/4 "2021-05-01T16:43:04Z")
This has been going on for decades. The late Steve Irwin featured a mouse infestation on _The Crocodile Hunter_. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2021, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-plague-in-australia/941151/5 "2021-05-01T23:11:52Z")
They’re like locust / grass hopper plagues. Nothing much for years, then BANG: > “The mice had fun living with the king and eating his cheese. But the king did not like this.” Drop bears will get you in the forests, salties eat people swimming in the estuaries, but mouse plagues happen in the wheat districts. Tourists and city dwellers only read about them. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2021, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-plague-in-australia/941151/6 "2021-05-02T00:39:17Z")
These current ones are regular introduced mice which came to Australia with Europeans, but in drier parts of Australia there are also irregular plagues of native long haired rat [_[Rattus villosissimus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-haired_rat)_]. Rain is not seasonal but happens in abundance every 5-10 years, at which point their population booms almost overnight to take advantage of the super-abundance of vegetation. There’s a wikipedia page on mouse plagues in Australia [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouse_plagues_in_Australia). ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2021, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-plague-in-australia/941151/7 "2021-05-02T09:15:06Z")
Yeah I can never throw them away. I get a new one when one stops working then I fix that then I have two. And my kids then buy fancy gaming ones but I still have the old ones. And they were giving them away at work at one time so I grabbed a few as spares. Have half a drawer full of them but I can never bring myself to ditch any. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2021, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-plague-in-australia/941151/8 "2021-05-02T09:24:19Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Yeah I can never throw them away. I get a new one when one stops working then I fix that then I have two Wrong thread, perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2021, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-plague-in-australia/941151/9 "2021-05-02T12:25:30Z")
> Steve Henry, a researcher at Australia’s national science agency, attributes the plague to an unusually abundant grain harvest, Live Science reports. According to the site, the surplus of grain drew in a surplus of mice earlier in the season than anyone had anticipated. [SOURCE](https://www.deseret.com/u-s-world/2021/3/23/22345051/mouse-plague-australia) It is worth noting that mouse plagues are not unusual in Australia. They are as common as once a decade or so. This one is apparently one of the worst in a long time though. The little beasties are super prolific. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2021, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-plague-in-australia/941151/10 "2021-05-02T12:44:35Z")
> [@Banksiaman](#): > > These current ones are regular introduced mice which came to Australia with Europeans, but in drier parts of Australia there are also irregular plagues of native long haired rat [_[Rattus villosissimus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-haired_rat)_ ] I thought there weren’t any native placental mammals in Australia. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2021, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-plague-in-australia/941151/11 "2021-05-02T13:21:06Z")
Whoosh! ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2021, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-plague-in-australia/941151/12 "2021-05-02T13:27:13Z")
There are various placental bats and rodents that have been in Australia for millions of years. Then there are dingos but they were probably introduced in the last few thousand years. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2021, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-plague-in-australia/941151/13 "2021-05-02T13:31:49Z")
Yes. Seems the first wave of proper rats and mice were anything up to 20 million years ago. There are some species very close to those in New Guinea and Indonesia. Bats can of course fly in if they get lucky. One can also count seals. The Dingo came in with the native Australians who are mammals too 🙂 . ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2021, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-plague-in-australia/941151/14 "2021-05-02T13:36:06Z")
There’s a few - but restricted to bats and rodents. They’ve been here 10-15 million years. They are generally termed native and lumped with marsupials. After that you get the Dingo [native dog], arriving as a commensal of Aboriginal people maybe 5000 years ago, although there are some claims for earlier dates. All the other placentals you’d encounter in the wild in various parts of Australia - Old World rats and mice, cats, dogs, fox, goats, rabbits, pigs, buffalo, horses, deer, camels, children - are derived from imported animals brought by Europeans after 1788, and are generally distinguished as _ferals_. They have not lived in Australia long enough to have evolved into deadly and voracious man-eaters, and so are not considered worthy of being native. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2021, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-plague-in-australia/941151/15 "2021-05-02T14:07:31Z")
> [@Banksiaman](#): > > **pigs** , buffalo, horses, deer, camels, children - are derived from imported animals brought by Europeans after 1788, and are generally distinguished as _ferals_ . They have not lived in Australia long enough to have evolved into deadly and voracious man-eaters, and so are not considered worthy of being native. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/5DZvQfK5BuU/maxresdefault.jpg "Razorback Trailer HD") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DZvQfK5BuU) I remember seeing this when it came out. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2021, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-plague-in-australia/941151/16 "2021-05-02T16:41:44Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Whoosh! Was there some cultural reference that I missed? Otherwise, why the “whoosh”? ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2021, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-plague-in-australia/941151/17 "2021-05-02T16:51:33Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Was there some cultural reference that I missed? Otherwise, why the “whoosh”? Re-read it - and remember the subject is mice. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2021, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-plague-in-australia/941151/18 "2021-05-02T16:53:33Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > It is worth noting that mouse plagues are not unusual in Australia. They are as common as once a decade or so. How are the rabbits doing these days? ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2021, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-plague-in-australia/941151/19 "2021-05-02T17:35:20Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > How are the rabbits doing these days? Well. 🤬 I see rabbits all the time. My cat brings the critters in - alive. I have no idea how he manages to drag them in through the cat door. I would say I have never seen them as prevalent as they are now for the last 20 years. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2021, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-plague-in-australia/941151/20 "2021-05-02T20:59:32Z")
If you’re up for some nightmare fuel: [footage of a former mouse plague](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWVw-j8eYSk). Don’t say I didn’t warn you [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-plague-in-australia/941151.md?page=2)