A team from the University of Sydney discovered that nature fights back after its bushland camera recorded shocking footage of a native rat species attacking an invasive pest.

Jenna Bytheway and Peter Banks, two researchers involved with the project, wrote about their findings for The Conversation and shared a 15-second clip of the event.

In the footage, a native water rat stealthily watches an invasive black rat before leaping out from its hiding spot and chasing away the encroacher.

Bytheway and Banks, who published their findings in the journal Australian Mammalogy, revealed to The Conversation that questions remain about whether the native water rats, or rakali, merely chase invasive black rats or hunt them down to kill them.

However, they said rakali have a reputation for killing and eating other rat species when in captivity. The footage could be a hopeful sign that native rodents can help control nuisance rodent populations in major Australian cities, where black rats are increasingly common.

These rats pose a major threat to public health.

Bytheway and Banks called black rats the "primary host" of rat lungworm, a parasite that (in rare instances) can lead to severe meningitis and be fatal after infection, per NSW Health.

Black rats can also infect humans and pets with leptospirosis, a bacterial disease that can cause flu-like symptoms and organ failure. The researchers warned that pet owners also need to be wary of leptospirosis, as it has recently killed multiple dogs in Sydney.

Beyond that, black rats endanger the country's biodiverse ecosystems, which bring in billions of dollars in tourism revenue each year.

For instance, the government of Australia's Northern Territory says that black rats may be contributing to declining bird populations in the country, as they prey on bird eggs.

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To prevent troublesome encounters, the government encourages residents to be proactive by rat-proofing food storage areas and properly securing garbage.

Now, the University of Sydney believes the rakali may be another piece of the puzzle. If rakali can naturally control invasive black or brown rat populations, pest control teams could forgo toxic and ecologically harmful rodenticides that also harm beneficial native creatures.

"Evidence is growing that native rodents can help control pest rodents," Bytheway and Banks wrote. "By allowing native rodents to thrive, we may be able to harness their natural behaviours to control invasive pests safely, sustainably and effectively."

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