Cannibal rats unlikely to land in Britain, Ireland: biologist

Last year the Lyubov Orlova was being towed to the Dominacan Republic, where it broke off from its tether and floated away.

Now reports suggest that it is possible the once ship may have crossed the Atlantic, possibly to crash into Britain or Ireland, to unleash a horde of inbred cannibal rats on the islands' populations.

Biologist Greg Mayer over at Why Evolution is True explained why even if the ship hasn't sunk - as the Irish coastguard suspects - this scenario is highly improbable.

According to Mayer the proposed scenario is unlikely because there aren't any primary producers on the boat.

"Unless those rats have been raising crops on the ship, the last one, cannibal or not, died some time ago," Mayer wrote.

"Although rodents will resort to cannibalism when food supplies run low (though I’ve never seen it in rats myself, which, by the way, are much friendlier and make better pets than mice), an ecosystem based on cannibalism cannot persist, because there is no energy input to the system, and there cannot be a 100% efficient transfer, so the rat-level in the “food chain” will continually decrease in number and biomass," Mayer explained.

While it is possible that the ship may still have had a fair amount of food still on it, according to Mayer it was being towed to salvage so that scenario is unlikely.