lord howe island is an extraordinary
environment
every day here is really like living a
david atwood documentary
you walk out the front door and you're
just surrounded and immersed in all of
that nature
it's a tiny island 11 kilometers long
and
about two kilometers wide and the
wildlife here is amazing we've got
thousands of seabirds breeding here
we've got a wonderful rainforest
we've got the world's most southerly
coral reef
a big part of lord howe island is taken
up by our
two southern mountains and because
they're so tall they actually create
their own cloud
the official title is the gnarled mossy
cloud forest
and there are only a handful of islands
in the world that have such a cloud
forest
existing on them
plant cloud provides a humidity and
extra rainfall
for extraordinary ecosystems on the
summits of the mountains
so the rodents had been on lordhow
island since 1918
and they were eating the seeds of most
of the plants including two
palms that pretty much only occur on
that summit forest
come back at 7 20. 7 20.
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it took most of 2019 to carry out this
project
and the last live wrap was found in
september 2019
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it's very evident to the eye there's a
lot more fruit hanging off the trees
up there and where the seeds have fallen
onto the ground
there's carpets a little sequins
springing up everywhere
the other big change is the increase in
snails and slugs
so we're seeing visually great changes
with the vegetation and with the slug
populations
[Music]
well for me it's a thrilling thing to
see the eradication
and the benefits of it and all of the
island residents here are just so
pleased to see the proliferation in
bird life and plants not just on the
summit but right across the island the
changes are
evident to everybody living here
you