DNA testing of the remains of 10 Northland rats, some believed to be 160 years old, could provide insights into animal and human migration to New Zealand.
The mummified rodents were discovered at Pompallier House, the Historic Places Trust property in Russell, in the early 1990s and are now on display
there.
Biological anthropologist Lisa Matisoo-Smith has begun DNA analysis of the remains and the results are expected in the next few weeks.
"We suspect the rats may have come here with successive waves of immigrants and settlers," she said.
"By examining the DNA of rats that died over a period of decades, we may be able to learn more about rat and human migration."
The Auckland University senior lecturer said one question that might be answered was the origin of the rats.
The research could establish whether they included the Polynesian kiore, or if they came from further afield, like Britain, France or the United States.
Pompallier House is New Zealand's oldest surviving Catholic building and dates back to 1841, when it was built as a printery, tannery and storehouse.
It later became a private house, before the Government bought it and opened it to the public.
Property manager Kate Martin said Pompallier House was built of rammed earth, a French technique employed by the Marist missionaries.
"When we restored this building between 1990 to 1993, the rats' nests were discovered," she said.
"The nature of those thick walls is what has preserved the rats so amazingly well."
Ms Martin said the specimens on display dated from the time of the building's construction to the early 20th century.
"We have a couple that we're absolutely convinced are from the 1840s because of the contents of the nests.
"What we don't know is where they came from originally."
She said there was a strong possibility that one of them was what in Maori is called a kiore, a species found throughout the Asia-Pacific region and associated with Polynesian migration.
Kiore were believed to have been introduced to New Zealand by the first Maori settlers in the 10th century.
They are now extinct on the North Island mainland, and are restricted in NZ to Fiordland, Stewart Island and a number of other islands.
"Visually, there are differences between a ship rat and a Polynesian rat, but the real proof will be in the DNA," Ms Martin said.
She hoped that testing would indeed show that one of the Pompallier House rats was a kiore.
- NZPA
DNA testing of the remains of 10 Northland rats, some believed to be 160 years old, could provide insights into animal and human migration to New Zealand.
The mummified rodents were discovered at Pompallier House, the Historic Places Trust property in Russell, in the early 1990s and are now on display
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