1 / 13

Operation Cat Drop

Operation Cat Drop. The Story. In the 1950's, the Dayak people of Borneo tragically suffered an outbreak of malaria, which was cause by an increase in the mosquitoes population. The Story. Malaria is cause by the parasite Plasmodium falciparum. The Story .

omana
Download Presentation

Operation Cat Drop

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Operation Cat Drop

  2. The Story • In the 1950's, the Dayak people of Borneo tragically suffered an outbreak of malaria, which was cause by an increase in the mosquitoes population

  3. The Story • Malaria is cause by the parasite Plasmodium falciparum

  4. The Story • The World Health Organisation (WHO), sprayed large amounts of DDT to kill the mosquitoes.

  5. The Story • The mosquitoes die • The Malaria decline • And everyone lived happily ever after, or did they?

  6. The Twist • The DDT not only killed mosquitoes but parasitic wasp as well • The parasitic wasp was responsible for controlling the caterpillar population, with less parasitic wasp the caterpillar population increased

  7. The Twist • These caterpillars would feed on thatch, which made up the roofs of people house, causing them to collapse.

  8. The Twist • Not only did the DDT kill mosquitoes and parasitic wasps. It also killed flies and cockroaches, these dead flies and cockroaches where full of DDT and then consumed by geckoes, which became lethargic

  9. The Twist • Since the geckos had such little energy, they became easy prey for the cats.

  10. The Twist • Since the cats where eating so many more geckos full of DDT they started to die. “No to many DDT geckos”

  11. No more cat, now what? • With cat population decreasing, the rat population increased. Since the cat was a predator for the rat.

  12. So what more rats, what the big deal? • Rats carry fleas and these fleas carry Typhus, which causes buboes swellings of the lymph nodes

  13. The only solution? • Parachute in live cats into Borneo

More Related