Hey,
I had to reply to this one, as its a pet topic of mine, and one that I am eager to understand some more. And good on you Dave for establishing this forum. I hope it takes off.
There was an article about this in Biological Conservation in 2004. Put simply mice killing albatross chicks by eating them alive (as you can see in that youtube link). It was an enlightening moment for me (please understand I am coming from a very low level of enlightenment) that introduced predators (or non introduced for that matter), may evolve (is that the right word?) to prey on species they once did not.
Because if my understanding is right (and its not made clear in the RSPB article), mice and albatross once lived in "harmony" on Gough Island. Mice were introduced there about two hundred years ago and only recently has the predation been observed.
Its important in itself, but it also has importance for New Zealand wildlife management in that we still have two subantarctic island groups with mice on them(I would use the word extant but I'm not sure exactly what it means): the Auckland Islands and the Antipodes. Both have large and fragile albatross populations.
We also have next to no knowledge (please correct me) on the importance of mice predation in our sub-alpine zones (sort of like subantarctic islands risen into the air), and the effect they may have on bird species like the rock wren.
Interested in any thoughts or further information.
