Natural History Wanderings

The BBC  reported on how Chile is using owls to combat hantavirus. Owls are the natural predators of the rats that carry the hantavirus. They report:

Chile’s forest service says it wants to increase the population of Chilean white owls and lesser horned owls, so it can act as a “biologicial regulator” that will curb the spread of disease-carrying rats. But locals would have to become less superstitious about the birds, officials say.

“If an owl hooted near a house, it used to mean that someone would die in that house. But in reality it is the opposite – the owls are actually protecting homes,” Aldo Valdivia Ahumada told Santiago Times.

Read more at:  BBC News – Chile: Owls drafted in to fight deadly hantavirus.