Recording of the week: A singing rat

This week's selection comes from Richard Ranft, Head of Sound and Vision.

Even among wildlife sound recordists accustomed to capturing unusual sounds, it is a surprise to hear the sound of a rat, and one which literally sings, with a change in pitch and rhythm.

Amazon bamboo rats are a family of large tree rats found in the jungles of south America. While recording forests sounds on an expedition in south-east Peru in 1985, I often heard this sound at night, but didn’t believe locals who claimed it was made by a rat.

I had heard rare recordings in the British Library’s unique sound collections of high-pitched sounds made by the laboratory rat and the widely distributed Brown Rat. But this sound seemed, well, so unrat-like. It was also frustratingly hard for me to record, as whatever creature was making it only vocalised rarely, for a few seconds before going silent, at night in the pitch blackness of the tropical forests, from within dense clumps of bamboo near where I was encamped.

When I finally got this recording after many failed attempts, I was determined to identify the source. So I crept nearer and nearer over a period of about 15 minutes, expecting to see a large frog. Luckily it called again, and I was ready to switch on my torch. There in the light-beam, partly hidden by bamboo stems and leaves, was indeed a furry bamboo rat. Mystery solved! The call is used as a territorial signal to its own kind, much as a bird sings a song in its territory.

Drawing of an Amazon bamboo rat (illustration by Asohn19262 / CC-BY-SA)

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Weekly Road Report – West End Ward #dundeewestend

DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL – WEEKLY ROAD REPORT

REPORT FOR WEST END WARD – WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 12 MARCH 2018

West Marketgait (Overgate Lane to Nethergate) – southbound nearside lane closure for one week for SSE cable overlay.

South Union Street/South Marketgait at Dundee Railway Station – northbound nearside lane closure from 9.30am for 9 weeks for footway works.

Riverside Drive/South Union Street at Dundee Railway Station – off-peak (9.30am – 3.30pm) east/northbound nearside lane closure for up to 3 weeks for footway works.

West Hendersons Wynd (from Douglas Street for a distance of 50m) – closed on Tuesday 13 March for Scottish Water repair works.

Benvie Road/Mitchell Street junction – closed from Saturday 17 March for 5 days for demolition works. Mitchell Street closed Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 March only.

Riverside Approach (at Riverside Drive) – closed overnight for one week for works to Tay Bridge.

Nethergate/South Tay Street (West Marketgait to South Tay Street including South Tay Street junction) – closed from Saturday 17 March for up to 5 days for carriageway repairs.

Forthcoming Roadworks

Bellfield Street (Hawkhill to No 24) – closed from Monday 26 March for 5 days for sewer works.

Tariffs and trade

Tariffs can be damaging to trade. That is why I want us out of the EU customs union, because it imposes high tariffs on lower income countries wishing to sell us better value food. I want us to be able to negotiate a lower overall tariff package for ourselves than the EU wishes to do with the rest of the world. It is particularly foolish and unfriendly to levy high tariffs on food we cannot grow for ourselves because it comes from a non EU country.

I find it curious that the EU claims to be scandalised by Mr Trump threatening a 10% tariff on German cars which sell in large numbers into the US, when the EU itself imposes just such a 10% tariff on US cars into the EU. Germany runs a colossal trade surplus with both the UK, inside the EU tariff wall, and with the US, outside the tariff wall. Mr Trump identifies the asymmetric tariffs and some other barriers as one of the reasons the trade is so lop sided, and wishes to do something about it.

Meanwhile it is typical of the EU that they are telling the UK that we cannot exempt ourselves from the US steel tariffs, though we would probably be in a good position to do so on our own. It is reminder of why we need to get on with our exit so we do have control over these matters. I also read that the EU is still pursuing tax cases against us and argues that we owe them E2.7bn of underclaimed customs dues which the UK Treasury contests. We have lost a lot of revenue before from EU tax cases and now have to argue against making yet another additional payment to a body we are leaving. Clearly they think we should be levying higher tariffs on non EU imports than we think are owing because they wish to keep these products out, and to harm UK consumers.

This is not the wonderful free trade EU some think we must stay in at all costs.

DRDO Workshop on International Women’s Day

Minister for Ladakh Affairs and Cooperative, Govt of Jammu & Kashmir Shri Chhering Dorjay, today inaugurated a national workshop named “DRDO Initiative of Women Augmenting Services (DIWAS – 2018)” organised to celebrate the International Women’s Day by Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR), the Leh based premier Life Sciences cluster laboratory of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

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President of India reached Mauritius; Addresses students at Mahatma Gandhi Institute; says India’s aspiration is for Mauritius to rise as a leading Economy and a voice for peace and stability in the entire Indian Ocean Region

The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, has reached Mauritius today (March 11, 2018) on the first leg of his State Visit to Mauritius and Madagascar. He was received at the airport by the Prime Minister of Mauritius, Honourable Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, and his entire Cabinet and hundreds of dignitaries and local people.

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