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Lord Howe Island got rid of its rats and mice – now cockroaches and bugs are bouncing back

Five years after a 2019 program eradicated invasive rats and mice from World Heritage-listed Lord Howe Island (600km off Australia’s east coast), a study in the journal Biological Invasions records a 60% increase in invertebrate populations, including the rediscovery of a weevil species thought extinct for over a century. Scientists note the island’s ecosystem is reorganizing, with benefits to native birds, reptiles, and plant life, as the absence of rodents removes a key threat to its unique flora and fauna.