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<\/a><\/p>\nWhat happened and why did it attract attention?<\/p>\n
The operation involved the launch of 2.000 rats already dead, prepared to serve as toxic bait for snakes.<\/p>\n
The target is the arboreal brown snake, which can reach three meters and it spread aggressively across the island.<\/p>\n
The strategy attracted attention for using paracetamol as a toxicant for an invasive reptile, taking advantage of the species’ high sensitivity to the compound.<\/p>\n
How does the bait fall into the trees?<\/p>\n
Left: Standard Air Delivery System (ADS) with dead rat bait. 4 to 6 g e one 80 mg acetaminophen tablet fixed externally.
Right: proposed alternative ground bait consisting of a dead rat. 13 to 17 g on two 80 mg tablets inserted into the body.<\/p>\n
To reduce the risk of other animals finding the bait on the ground, the delivery method was designed to get caught in the vegetation.<\/p>\n
The procedure calls for the rodents to be released. one by one, with a mini parachute, to get tangled in the trees where the snakes roam.<\/p>\n
Radio tracking was also used on some of the baits to monitor the snakes’ movements before death, during the evaluation phase of the method.<\/p>\n
Why did paracetamol become used to control snakes?<\/p>\n
O paracetamol It is an effective oral toxicant for the brown arboreal snake, with a dose of 80 milligrams associated with very high mortality in the species.<\/p>\n
Large-scale control gained momentum with the development of a automated air delivery system, designed to distribute bait in wooded areas quickly and consistently.<\/p>\n
Tests and validations indicate that the technique can reduce the abundance of snakes in treated areas, although it does not eliminate the problem permanently.<\/p>\n
The scale of the problem in Guam and the daily damage it causes.<\/p>\n
Arboreal brown snakes can vary greatly in size. The image shows a small juvenile (713 mm of snout-cloaca length, 36 g of body mass; on the left) and an exceptionally large male (1.800 mm, 1.285 g; on the right)<\/p>\n
Estimates suggest approximately 2 million of snakes in 541 square kilometers from Guam, with a density between 50 to 100 snakes per hectare in critical areas<\/p>\n
The species is linked to the loss of native birds, with extinction of nine out of 12 Native species mentioned in the history of the problem.<\/p>\n
Pressure is also appearing in the infrastructure sector, with a focus on reducing blackouts and risks in electrical installations.<\/p>\n
What could happen from now on?<\/p>\n
The program was not limited to a single action.<\/a> and became part of a set of control measures, with ongoing research and method adjustments.<\/p>\nAerial spraying can suppress snakes for a period, but reinvasion from untreated areas occurs over the course of months, reinforcing the need for repeated applications and combination with other tools.<\/p>\n
Guam remains an unincorporated associated territory of the United States, with 160 thousand People and military relevance, while snake control remains an environmental and essential service issue, like energy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published 03\/01\/2026 \u00e0s 22:54 The planned action for the forests of Guam It went from being planned to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226947,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[116561,116562,115763,61,60,116563,82,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-227541","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-cobras-invasoras","9":"tag-estados-unidos","10":"tag-eua","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-ratos-com-paracetamol","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/avatar_user_280_1755182525-43x43.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767564729_862_1767521979640.jpeg\"\/)
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Design-sem-nome-3-2.jpg\"\/)
Left: Standard Air Delivery System (ADS) with dead rat bait. 4 to 6 g e one 80 mg acetaminophen tablet fixed externally.![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Design-sem-nome-4-2.jpg\"\/)
Arboreal brown snakes can vary greatly in size. The image shows a small juvenile (713 mm of snout-cloaca length, 36 g of body mass; on the left) and an exceptionally large male (1.800 mm, 1.285 g; on the right)<\/p>\n