A study suggests that brown rats arrived in North America earlier than previously thought and out-competed black rats, becoming a nuisance for city-dwellers.
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. The study suggests that they 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 'rats'.
It didn't take long for them to push aside the black rats that had likely arrived with Columbus and thrived in colonial cities. 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 the study. Brown rats are larger and more aggressive than black rats — and they want to be close to human populations, said Matthew Frye, a researcher and community educator with the New York State Integrated Pest Management Program at Cornell University
Brown Rats Black Rats East Coast Study North America Nuisance City-Dwellers
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