{"id":3774,"date":"2016-09-21T00:10:22","date_gmt":"2016-09-21T00:10:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.novonon.com\/blog\/?p=3774"},"modified":"2016-09-21T00:10:22","modified_gmt":"2016-09-21T00:10:22","slug":"man-v-rat-could-the-long-war-soon-be-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.novonon.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/21\/man-v-rat-could-the-long-war-soon-be-over\/","title":{"rendered":"Man v rat: could the long war soon be over?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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[New advances in rat control: considerably more interesting than you probably think \ud83d\ude42 -egg]<\/p>\n

F<\/span><\/span>irst, the myths. There are no \u201csuper rats\u201d. Apart from a specific subtropical breed, they do not get much bigger than 20 inches long, including the tail<\/a>. They are not blind, nor are they afraid of cats. They do not carry rabies. They do not, as was reported in 1969 regarding an island in Indonesia, fall from the sky. Their communities are not led by elusive, giant \u201cking rats\u201d. Rat skeletons cannot liquefy and reconstitute at will. (For some otherwise rational people, this is a genuine concern.) They are not indestructible, and there are not as many of them as we think. The one-rat-per-human in New York City estimate is pure fiction. Consider this the good news.<\/p>\n