These rats that you see (and those you do not see)
Ciudades y ratas
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22201/ceide.16076079e.2025.26.2.4Keywords:
diseases, humans, rat catchers, rat infestation, urbanizationAbstract
Rats and humans have a long history of coexistence that began around 13,000 years ago when humans became sedentary farmers. This close relationship is based on all the resources that rats obtain from us, which they easily find in cities: abundant food, places to shelter and reproduce, and multiple surfaces to sharpen their teeth. Rats, in turn, cause severe damage to infrastructure and crops and can carry diseases that affect humans and other animals. For this reason, controlling and ideally eradicating them has always been a priority. To achieve this goal, rat hunters, both modern and ancient, have been and will continue to be essential. At this point in human history, where just over 50% of the world’s population lives in cities, it is crucial to improve our understanding of rats, their way of life, and how they evade our eradication attempts; this knowledge will help us develop strategies and measures to keep them as far away from us as possible.
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