{"id":215082,"date":"2022-11-19T19:13:40","date_gmt":"2022-11-19T13:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=215082"},"modified":"2022-11-19T19:13:40","modified_gmt":"2022-11-19T13:43:40","slug":"sweet-not-protein-in-bamboo-fruits-triggers-rat-boom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/sweet-not-protein-in-bamboo-fruits-triggers-rat-boom\/","title":{"rendered":"Sweet, not protein, in bamboo fruits triggers rat boom"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source: <\/b>The post is based on the article<\/span> \u201cSweet, not protein, in bamboo fruits triggers rat boom\u201d <\/b>published in<\/span> The Hindu on 19th November 2022<\/b><\/p>\n

What is the News?<\/b><\/h5>\n

A study was conducted on <\/span>Melocanna baccifera<\/span><\/i>, a tropical bamboo species that has long fascinated researchers for its association with the occurrence of \u2018bamboo death\u2019 \u2018rat floods\u2019 and famines in northeast India.<\/span><\/p>\n

What is Melocanna baccifera?<\/b><\/h5>\n

Melocanna baccifera is one of two bamboo species belonging to the Melocanna genus.It is also c<\/span>alled \u2018Muli\u2019 in northeast India.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is the largest fruit-producing bamboo and is native to the northeast India-Myanmar region.<\/span><\/p>\n

It <\/span>flowers almost fully synchronically every 48 years.This flowering results in the phenomenon known as <\/span>Mautam<\/i><\/b>.<\/b><\/p>\n

How is Melocanna baccifera associated with famines in northeast India?<\/b><\/h5>\n

During its gregarious flowering, the <\/span>Melocanna baccifera <\/span>produces large fruits which draw animal visitors\/predators. Of these, black rats greatly relish the fleshy, berry-like fruit. During this period, they also multiply rapidly, a phenomenon dubbed as \u2018rat flood.\u2019\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Once the fruits are gone, they start devouring standing crops, causing famines that have claimed thousands of human lives.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why do rats get attracted to the fruits produced by <\/b>Melocanna baccifera?<\/b><\/h5>\n

Earlier, it was presumed that \u2018high protein in fruits\/seeds\u2019 was attracting the rats.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, a study in 2016 has found that the fruit actually contains very little protein.The predation is mainly due to the high content of sugar.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: The post is based on the article \u201cSweet, not protein, in bamboo fruits triggers rat boom\u201d published in The Hindu on 19th November 2022 What is the News? A study was conducted on Melocanna baccifera, a tropical bamboo species that has long fascinated researchers for its association with the occurrence of \u2018bamboo death\u2019 \u2018rat… Continue reading Sweet, not protein, in bamboo fruits triggers rat boom<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10317,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[10498],"class_list":["post-215082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704804524},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10317"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215082\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}