Biologist William Jackson collecting rats for study that were trapped on Enjebi Island, summer 1964

Images documenting the Eniwetok-Bikini Resurvey Project between July and September 1964. Caption with image: Roof rats, more than 25 generations removed from ancestors which survived the blast, heat and radiation of nearby thermonuclear blasts in the 1950's, were trapped in Engebi Island by Wil...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Sneddon, James O.
Other Authors: University of Washington Libraries. Special Collections Division
Format: Other/Unknown Material
Language:unknown
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Online Access:http://cdm16786.contentdm.oclc.org:80/cdm/ref/collection/donaldson/id/221
Description
Summary:Images documenting the Eniwetok-Bikini Resurvey Project between July and September 1964. Caption with image: Roof rats, more than 25 generations removed from ancestors which survived the blast, heat and radiation of nearby thermonuclear blasts in the 1950's, were trapped in Engebi Island by William Jackson, professor of Biology at Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio. The rats survived within what had been supposed to be an area of total destruction. It was surmised that they had done so by being in deep instrument bunkers or cable tunnels at the time of the explosion and resulting wave of water that surged over the island. Jackson, an expert on rats, found the animals normal. The species was Rattus rattus. In this photograph, trapped rats were laid out on a concrete slab on Engebi as Jackson put them in plastic bags. 9265-15A. Radiological Survey of Bikini, Eniwetok and Rongelap Atolls, Volume 2, p.21.