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Dec 1, 2017 · Fordham University graduate student Matthew Combs studies the DNA of New York City's rats. He found that rats living uptown are genetically distinct from rats living downtown.
- Wynne Davis
Apr 27, 2020 · Brown rats, also called Norway rats or Rattus norvegicus, actually originate from China, where they subsist primarily on seeds and grains, nuts and fruits, and the occasional small animal, egg or insect. Not exactly a Michelin-starred menu, even by rat standards. But do they at least get to live the easy life compared to their city-dwelling ...
May 4, 2022 · City Rats Aren't The Deadly 'Disease Sponges' We Think. Scientists Explain Why. Nature 04 May 2022. By Daniel Lawler, AFP. (Ludovic MOTTINI/Getty Images) Rats have been seen as filthy disease-spreaders since at least the time of the plague, but new research shows that rodents and other city-dwelling animals are less likely to cause the next ...
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- Small Animals with Big Impacts
- Studying Rats in The City
- Overcoming Taboos Against Studying City Rats
Rats like to feed on small quantities of human rubbish while remaining just out of sight, so they have been associated with humans since the rise of agriculture. The ancestors of today’s urban rats followed humans across the great migratory routes, eventually making their way by foot or ship to every continent. In cities, rats can enter buildings t...
Although they are abundant, wild rats are exceptionally difficult to study. They are small, live mainly underground and are active at night, out of most humans’ sight. When people do see rats they are most likely to notice either the sickest or the boldest individuals – such as the “pizza rat”captured in a 2015 viral video – and make inaccurate gen...
In doing this research, I have encountered strong social taboos against working with rats. In 2013, while I was seeking opportunities to carry out field research on rats in New York City, I requested access to the CCTV surveillance cameras of “Theatre Alley,”a narrow lane in Manhattan’s Financial District where rats scurried at will. Just a few wee...
Dec 1, 2017 · Their discovery that uptown rats and downtown ones are genetically different could ultimately make life in cities — no matter what the neighborhood — better. “Rats uptown and downtown don ...
Jun 9, 2018 · The researchers captured at least 150 rats in each city, snipped off a bit of tissue and probed the samples for 15,000 genetic markers. By tracing subtle differences in mutations among rat populations, the scientists identified where different rat families had clustered.
Jul 26, 2021 · Jul 26, 2021, 12:47 IST. It's an urban myth that there are as many rats as people in New York. In fact, the real number of rats is closer to a quarter of the number of people (or about 2...
