Rat Facts Part I

Rat Facts Part I

1. It is said that you are never more than a few feet away from a rat… so keep a look out and you might find a rat in each room. 

2. The black rat (Rattus rattus) is the species of rat that carried fleas infected with the bubonic plague.  Bubonic plague killed 75 million people worldwide from the 1300s to the 18th century.

3. Rats carry more than 40 harmful human diseases such as murine typhus, the plague, rat-bite fever, Weil’s disease, Chaga’s disease, rickettsial pox, tularemia, Lassa fever, leptospirosis, salmonellosis, lymphocytic choriomeningitis, and rabies.

4. Rat-borne diseases are thought to have taken more human lives in the last 10 centuries than all the casualties of all the wars and revolutions combined

5. The Hamakua coast area on the Big Island and Makawao district on Maui were former 

6. plague epidemic areas, but the last human case appeared in Hamakua in 1949.

7. Each year, rats destroy approximately 20% of all the agricultural products in the world.  

8. Rats cause great damage to agricultural crops such as sugarcane, macadamia nuts, pineapple, coconuts, coffee, and other fruit and vegetable crops.

9. Rats climb trees, eat eggs, and prey on nestlings and adult birds.  They are considered a leading cause of the accelerated decline and extirpation of endemic 

10. Hawaiian forest birds and a major factor limiting present populations of endangered birds.

11. Rats are known to prey on ground nesting seabirds and sea turtle hatchlings.

12. Rats played a major role in preventing trees on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) from regrowing, and are believed to have promoted the loss of native lowland palm forests in areas like Ewa on Oahu.

13. When rats were removed from the tiny island of Mokoli’i (Chinaman’s Hat) in Kaneohe  Bay, wedgetailed shearwater chicks went from 0 to 126 the following year.

14. Of the three rat species found in Hawaii, the black rat, because of its size and arboreal behavior is considered the greatest threat to native Hawaiian forest birds. 

15. Rats also compete with forest birds for food items such as native snails, insects, fruits, and seeds.

16. Polynesian rats first arrived in Hawai`i with the Polynesians (approx. 400 A.D.) and black and Norway rats arrived with Westerners in the 1780s.

17. Some species of rats can swim over a mile in open water, and can tread water for up to three days.

18. Some species of rats can travel through sewer pipes and dive through water plumbing traps.

19. Rats can climb brick walls, trees, and telephone poles, and walk across telephone lines.

20. Rats can fall from a height of 50 feet without getting hurt.

21. Rats can jump three feet in the air from a flat surface and leap more than four feet horizontally.

22. Rats can scamper through openings as small as a quarter.  General rule: If a rat’s head fits into the hole then the body will follow.

23. Rats can chew through lead, cinder block, and aluminum sheeting.  Rats’ teeth grow about four inches a year, and they have to gnaw on things to keep their teeth from pushing through their skulls.

24. Rats cannot go without food for more than 4 days.

25. Rats are prolific. Mother rats can have as many as 8-12 offspring about every 30 days as long as there is enough food, shelter, and water.  The young rat is sexually mature at 3-4 months of age.

26. Rats are nocturnal (active at night), so when you see rats during the day this may signify a rat population out of control, or you may be seeing weaker, less competitive rats that are forced out into the daylight by stronger more dominant rats.

27. In the U.S., about 14,000 people annually report direct attacks from rats ocassionally inflicting mortal wounds.

28. More than 200 germs can be transmitted by rodents in their saliva, fecal droppings or urine.

29. A protein in rodent urine can cause allergic reactions in some people.

30. An adult rat can squeeze into your home through a hole as small as the size of a quarter. 

31.  Rats can live for up to 18 months, but most die before they are one year old. 

32.  Rats can dig three feet straight into the ground.  

33.  Rats have strong teeth that allow them to chew through glass, cinderblock, wire, aluminum and lead.  

34. Rats are also responsible for spreading Bubonic Plague, also known as the "Black Death." Although fleas are primarily responsible for infecting humans, they were originally infected with the plague by feeding on the blood of rats.

35. They can be trained to play basketball!