Polynesian rats did Easter Island's Jubaea

[Dave-Vero]

American Scientist

Here's the opening:

Rethinking the Fall of Easter Island

New evidence points to an alternative explanation for a civilization's collapse

Terry L. Hunt

Every year, thousands of tourists from around the world take a long flight across the South Pacific to see the famous stone statues of Easter Island. Since 1722, when the first Europeans arrived, these megalithic figures, or moai, have intrigued visitors. Interest in how these artifacts were built and moved led to another puzzling question: What happened to the people who created them?

click for full image and caption

 

In the prevailing account of the island's past, the native inhabitants—who refer to themselves as the Rapanui and to the island as Rapa Nui—once had a large and thriving society, but they doomed themselves by degrading their environment. According to this version of events, a small group of Polynesian settlers arrived around 800 to 900 A.D., and the island's population grew slowly at first. Around 1200 A.D., their growing numbers and an obsession with building moai led to increased pressure on the environment. By the end of the 17th century, the Rapanui had deforested the island, triggering war, famine and cultural collapse.

[Utopia Palms]

Hi Dave,

           That was great reading thank you. The same thing is still going on today, although they are not using the trees to move large rocks carvings around, more the growth of the local population, I have seen these rat's at work, every coconut and other palm seed is eaten before they hit the ground, the ones that do hit the ground are eaten as well if by some chance they miss one it is also eaten as the new shouts are coming up

This is going on in many of the islands of Vanuatu

Clayton.

[Bennz]

That is a very interesting article, quite a different version of events to what I remember from stage 2 Anthropology 20 years ago.  I wonder if we can now blame the rats for the extinction of the moa here in NZ? Possibly not. I tstil think the BBQ theory makes more sense there, paleopolynesian culture was not totally "at one with nature, man".

Bloody rats like Parajubaea too, I lost 90% of my first seed import to them. Cost me hundreds of dollars in rat bait too.

[Dave-Vero]

Utopia Palms,

If I read the story correctly, you've seen the replacement rats--European rats extirpated the Polynesians.  Then again, it's 3:46 am and I'm not entirely functional.  I've seen stories from the NW Hawaiian Islands and New Zealand explaining just how hard it is to get rid of rats, and how much damage they do.  Similar problems with introduced foxes in the Aleutians.

LAN airlines is big on flying tourists to Rapa Nui, so perhaps I might eventually visit.  But not before seeing mainland Chile.  

American Scientist is a wonderful but somewhat underexposed magazine.  The articles are by working scientists, usually college faculty.

I'm taking advantage of a ridiculously cheap airfare to visit Taipei in February.   Looks like they have cute Kingfishers rather like your Australian ones.  Ours are rather dull.

***Tim Flannery's version of the Great Moa BBQ is too interesting to give up just yet.  I suppose the same sorts of things happened to the Elephant Birds in Madagascar.  Archbold Biological Station near here, founded by a wealthy explorer, has a beautiful elephant bird egg in the dining room.

[Daryl]

There is a really good article on Easter Island palms in the latest issue of PACSOA's Palms and Cycads magazine. Anyody here get the latest issue?

Daryl

[mike in kurtistown]

Dave, it's a fascinating article on a fascinating subject that has always provoked my imagination and interest. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

One thing the writer may not have been aware of, not being a palm specialist, was to be careful about identifying the Easter Island palm as Jubaea (he doesn't state a species). In the article in the latest PACSOA issue, John Dransfield gives a name to the palm that is a new genus. He states with scientific caution that there is as yet insufficient evidence to prove that the palm was of the genus Jubaea.

[palmtreesforpleasure]

Very interesting article.

Rats certainly do a lot of damage to the rainforests

regards

colin

[Dave-Vero]

Thanks for the interesting comments!

I assume the Easter Island palms arrived via bird dispersal.  It's a pity they're gone.  

I suppose other plant extinctions on other Pacific islands could have resulted from rats eating all the seeds, all the time, but maybe Rapa Nui was especially vulnerable because it had such a small native flora.  

Looks like the Pacific Islands still have a lot to teach us about evolution, ecosystem assembly, and the effects of invasions.  I need to plan another visit to the high plateau of Kaua'i, where the only palms you see are Pritchardias planted in the parking lot at Waimea Canyon.

[PalmGuyWC]

Dave, that was a very interesting article.  If birds took the palm seed there, it must have been an awfully big bird.  I'm also wondering how a primative people with primative tools chopped those big palms down?  I guess leaving those huge monoliths behind, they figgured out an ingenious way. Maybe they weren't so primative after all.

Dick

[Dave-Vero]

I assume Pritchardia spread around the Pacific via bird.  Does anyone know better?  

Dr Chrissen Gemmill of the University of Waikato (who I spotted via a little Google search) could be a good resource person on plant dispersals in the Pacific.  She works on Pittosporum.  

Peoples with stone tools seem to have been pretty good at felling trees.  Think of Pacific Northwest residents making those immense dugout boats, not to mention planks for houses.  I think one approach was to use fire.

I have no idea how Rapa Nui residents worked stone on such a vast scale.  With the Peruvian civilizations, you can at least assume that a big workforce could be assembled for major projects.

On the other hand, Polynesians had very sophisticated technology for navigation, fishing, gardening, and many, many other things.  I'd rate them as very impressive techies.  In Hawai'i, I guess the kahunas were tech specialists.

[Alan_Tampa]

Aliens built the monolithic structures with the help of the Egyptians and Jesus, Captain of the Enterprise!

Now that out of the way.  Feral hogs have done a whole lot of damage on the islands (and bigger) that would give the rats something to strive for.  

The Conquistadors were also pig farmers it seems as they released them all over the place -thanks!  Some sailors chose to deposit large tortoises on remote stopping points, wish the style at the time favored this as few species have been victims of rampaging herds of torti.

Anyway, stone tools cut just fine, and remember they had lots of time by today's standards to accomplish a felling of a tree.  No e-mail to answer, no clock to punch, no traffic at all, project extensions granted with ease.  Anyway, if Ed Leedskalnin can build the Coral Castle alone, I think knocking over a few trees and carving some art would be cake walk for a civilization.

Whatever led to the rise and fall of the Rapa Nui, it is an intensely intriguing subject.

Alan

[bgl]

Dave,

The history of Rapa Nui / Easter Island is definitely unique and fascinating. Incidentally, "Nui" in Polynesian means "large, great, important". The word "rapa" would be equivalent to "lapa" in Hawaiian, and that word means "ridge or steep side of a ravine", so if my interpretation is correct "Rapa Nui" would mean "Great Ridge", or "Important Ridge".

Bo-Göran

[DoomsDave]

That is a fascinating tale.

Hmm.  How did those palms get out there?  What were the seeds like?

They're a LONG way from Chile.  Coincidence that Chile owns the place today?

dave