Wednesday, January 14, 2004
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IS IT MONGOOSES OR MONGEESE?
Tending bar is an informative profession. Maybe I’ll pick up enough useless information that I, too, can be a contender in trivia games. Last night’s shift yielded more than you ever wanted to know about the mongoose population of Hawaii, courtesy of a new patron whose name I never quite caught.
The discussion began innocently enough with a comment about the cats I’ve encountered in my neighborhood. This launched a tirade from someone about feral cats, which eventually led to Mr. Cliff Claven expounding upon the history of the mongoose in Hawaii. I feel it’s my duty to enlighten all of you, in turn.
Sometime in the past, local problems with rats in the sugar cane led to someone’s idea to control them by importing a predator. 72 Jamaica mongooses were sailed in, and (INSERT IMAGINATION HERE). You guessed it. There are no natural predators for the mongoose in Hawaii. Turns out they do eat rats, but not enough to control rat populations, and they seem to have quite an appetite for local ground-nesting birds, which are now endangered.
An interesting point is that the island of Kauai has no mongooses. Legend has it that when the shipment arrived there, the animals were thrown overboard and drowned. And that’s your Hawaiian history lesson for the day.
I forgot to wish Orlando Bloom a happy birthday yesterday, and I feel terrible about the oversight. He’s always been so generous about visiting my fantasies.
Tending bar is an informative profession. Maybe I’ll pick up enough useless information that I, too, can be a contender in trivia games. Last night’s shift yielded more than you ever wanted to know about the mongoose population of Hawaii, courtesy of a new patron whose name I never quite caught.
The discussion began innocently enough with a comment about the cats I’ve encountered in my neighborhood. This launched a tirade from someone about feral cats, which eventually led to Mr. Cliff Claven expounding upon the history of the mongoose in Hawaii. I feel it’s my duty to enlighten all of you, in turn.
Sometime in the past, local problems with rats in the sugar cane led to someone’s idea to control them by importing a predator. 72 Jamaica mongooses were sailed in, and (INSERT IMAGINATION HERE). You guessed it. There are no natural predators for the mongoose in Hawaii. Turns out they do eat rats, but not enough to control rat populations, and they seem to have quite an appetite for local ground-nesting birds, which are now endangered.
An interesting point is that the island of Kauai has no mongooses. Legend has it that when the shipment arrived there, the animals were thrown overboard and drowned. And that’s your Hawaiian history lesson for the day.
I forgot to wish Orlando Bloom a happy birthday yesterday, and I feel terrible about the oversight. He’s always been so generous about visiting my fantasies.
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