Will Rats Take Over the World After the Mass Extinctions?
WouterRats have been a scourge of mankind for centuries, but if there were a mass extinction, the rat could be the best candidate to repopulate the planet. The creatures are adaptable and can thrive in different environments, making them an ideal replacement species. In fact, scientists believe that rat population could repopulate the Earth within three million to 10 million years. In that timeframe, the Earth would have gone through at least five mass extinctions. The most recent mass extinction occurred 65 million years ago, when scientists believe an asteroid hit the planet. After this event, mammals took advantage of the newly available ecological space and eventually became the dominant animals of the animal kingdom.
Rats reproduce quickly and can spawn up to 15,000 offspring a year. They can also climb walls and telephone cables. Their incisors are fourteen inches long, which makes it easy for them to gnaw into anything. Because rats can be resilient, even the most effective sanitation measures cannot deal with a massive rat invasion. Hence, the City of New York launched a $32 million war plan against rat population to halt their population growth.
Rats have been a major problem in several parts of the world for decades. Rat infestation has become so bad in Los Angeles that the city’s police department has even tried to use feral cats to control the problem. Another area plagued by rats is Washington, D.C., which has seen a massive spike in black rats in the late 2000s.
