Background

A nature documentary about rodent outbreaks in Bangladesh was produced by the Discovery Channel. This 45 minute video can be dowloaded from Discovery Channel (2011) Swarmchasers: Rats (direct download approx 650 MB or watch via YouTube link below). A documentary following Prof Steven Belmain looking for rat swarms in Bangladesh. Broadcast in January 2011 for Animal Planet.

 

Rodents are serious pests of agriculture, and occasional massive rodent population outbreaks ruin harvests. In years with rodent outbreaks, crop yield losses are reported as high as 48% to maize, sorghum and pulses in Tanzania. Some rodent outbreaks can cause nearly 100% crop loss and regional famine. A book about rodent outbreaks is available free to download, Rodent Outbreaks: Ecology and Impacts. It covers the different reasons why rodent populations can explode in different contexts related to climatic factors, natural cycles in plants that periodically mast large amounts of seed, or human responses to extreme weather events.
outbreak book cover