How burnt coconut helped discover new to science endemic species in Sri Lanka

Burnt Coconut Bait Leads Scientists to New Mouse Species in Sri Lanka’s Knuckles Mountains

In the twilight hours at Puwakpitiya, a village bordering Sri Lanka’s Knuckles Mountain Range, researchers set out traps to study small mammals moving between paddy fields and forest. When peanut butter—the standard bait for luring rodents—failed to work, the team improvised with burnt coconut pieces, a food more familiar to the local mice. The switch […] The post Burnt Coconut Bait Leads Scientists to New Mouse Species in Sri Lanka’s Knuckles M…

How burnt coconut helped discover new to science endemic species in Sri Lanka

COLOMBO - As dusk settled over the paddy fields at Puwakpitiya, a village on the northern edge of Knuckles Mountain Range locally known as Dumbara mountains in Central Sri Lanka, researchers began laying traps along the uneasy boundary between farmland and forest. They were targeting small terrestrial mammals moving through the landscape. On the ground, drift fences were created to lead animals to pitfall traps, while box style Sherman live trap…