Rats

[phkrause]

How brown rats conquered North American cities New research suggests that brown rats crawled off ships arriving in North America earlier than previously thought and out-competed rodent rivals – going on to infuriate and disgust generations of city-dwellers and becoming so ubiquitous that they’re known as common rats, street rats or sewer rats. Read more.

Key findings: After first appearing on the continent before 1740, brown rats took over the East Coast from black rats “in only a matter of decades,” said Michael Buckley, one of the authors of a study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances. Neither rat species is native to North America, he added. Scientists used to think that brown rats arrived around 1776 but the new study pushes that date back by over 35 years.   One probable reason they dominated, researchers suggest, is that they ate food black rats would otherwise have consumed – which may have reduced reproduction among black rats. Historical anecdotes back up this finding, describing the near disappearance of black rats from cities in the 1830s.

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[phkrause]

How to get rid of NYC rats without brutality? Birth control is one idea

New York lawmakers are proposing rules to humanely drive down the population of rats and other rodents, eyeing contraception and a ban on glue traps as alternatives to poison or a slow, brutal death.

https://apnews.com/article/nyc-rats-birth-control-traps-57a1b372dd6c68325fbd837f9612deec?