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Articles on Rats

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Framing cats as responsible for declines in biodiversity is based on faulty scientific logic and fails to account for the real culprit – human activity.
Cities around the world appear to be harboring increasing numbers of rats, including this one: the inflatable ‘Scabby the Rat.’ robert cicchetti/

Super rats or sickly rodents? Our war against urban rats could be leading to swift evolutionary changes

Cities often embark upon drastic and expensive eradication campaigns designed to rapidly rid the city of pests like rats. But are the surviving rats stronger or weaker than before?
Learning about urban rat populations through genetic testing reveals information about their movements through cities. Shutterstock

Rat detective uses DNA to uncover how rats scurry around cities

Genetic analysis shows that urban rats prefer to stay near their relatives; however, some of them migrate. Knowing this could help with pest control efforts.
Rats are part of the urban ecosystem and an urban ecology approach to managing their populations may involve learning to share the city. Mert Guller/Unsplash

Living with rats involves understanding the city as an ecosystem

An ecosystems approach to cities that recognizes rats as part of the ecosystem can help address the challenges presented by urban rats.


Animals do so much work for humans, from farm animals who die to feed us to service animals helping veterans with PTSD. It’s time we gave back by providing humane living and working conditions.

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