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Click here to go back Details of this species in Hawaii (Hawai‘i) Is. Status: Alien Invasiveness: Invasive Occurrence: Reported Source: Atkinson and Moller, 1990 Arrival Date: Arrived with early polynesian settlers Introduction: Species Notes for this Location: At least two colonisation events (Matisoo-Smith et al. 1998). Management Notes for this Location: Location Notes: Impacts: Agricultural: Pacific rats (Rattus exulans) are a major agricultural pest throughout Southeast Asia and the Pacific region. Crops damaged by this species include rice, maize, sug-arcane, coconut, cacao, pineapple, and root crops. In the United States, sugarcane is the only crop of economic concern damaged by Polynesian rats. The most severe damage is to unirrigated sugarcane on the windward side of the islands of Hawaii and Kauai. Here, rats find excellent habitat in the lush vegetation of noncrop lands adjacent to sugarcane fields. Rat damage to Hawaiian sugarcane is negligible until the crop is 14 to 15 months old, after which it increases substantially and progressively until harvest.Injury ranges from barely perceptible nicks in the outer rind to neatly chiseled canoe shaped cavities. Small chips usually are evident on the ground where rats have fed, (Prevention And Control Of Wildlife Damage,1994). Last Modified: 28/04/2005 1:54:33 p.m.