rats news stories on Newser

'Literary' Island Faces Bombing of Rat Poison

Neal Colgrass — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:20:26 CST

Any buried treasure on the island of Montecristo will soon be covered in rat poison. Facing a massive rat infestation, Italian authorities plan to drop 26 tons of poison on the 4-square-mile island that inspired Alexandre Dumas' famous novel The Count of Monte Cristo , the Telegraph reports. Black rats may...

3-Foot Rat Speared in Brooklyn

Mary Papenfuss — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 02:22:52 CDT

It's a rat that almost ate Brooklyn. But a Housing Authority worker speared the three-foot-long rodent (including tail)—with a pitchfork, reports the New York Daily News . Experts believe the creature is likely a Gambian pouched rat , which is sometimes kept as a pet—but perhaps more at home in...

Australia Fighting Rats —With Rats

John Johnson — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 17:00:13 CDT

In the what-could-possibly-go-wrong department: Australia hopes to rid the Sydney Harbour area of black rats by introducing a different species of rat into the area, reports Reuters . The black rats are non-native invaders that probably arrived by ship 200 or so years ago, and they're a huge nuisance near the...

Rat Crawls on NYC Subway Rider's Face

Mary Papenfuss — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 04:42:26 CST

Ew. When someone brags about improved quality of life in New York, pull out this video. One of the many rats who share space with the city's thousands of daily commuters frantically scurries about a subway car as another rider films him. Passengers watch, sometimes lifting their feet to avoid...

1K Rats Found in Hoarder's Home

aarontco — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 05:53:03 CST

Close to 1,000 rats have been rescued from a Los Angeles man's home featured on A&E's reality show, Hoarders. The Humane Society has relocated the rats to San Jose, where they are being temporarily housed at a pet shop until they can be adopted. A previous owner's daughter apparently...

This Rat Could Provide Your Next Fur Coat

Evann Gastaldo — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:32:30 CDT

Good news, eco-conscious fashionistas: You may soon be able to don real fur responsibly. The downside? It comes from a rat. The nutria, to be exact, a semi-aquatic South American rat that grows to more than 2 feet long and can reach 20 pounds. Thanks to the fact that the...

Rats Laugh When Tickled

Evann Gastaldo — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 12:02:00 CDT

A YouTube gem from 2007 is making the rounds again, teaching us something kind of neat and kind of gross: Rats laugh when tickled. When a Bowling Green University professor decided to try tickling the rodents, and then listening to their resulting high-frequency noises on a “bat detector,” he discovered...

I'm a Celeb Contestants Charged in Rat-Eating

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 09:05:15 CST

Turns out that killing and eating a rat on I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here was a bad idea on many levels—including the animal cruelty charges that two contestants are now facing. Series winner and chef Gino D'Acampo and actor Stuart Manning are facing charges in Australia...

Gas Fumes May Pump Up Road Rage

Jane Yager — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 05:24:35 CST

If filling the gas tank fills you with rage, it might be the fumes you're breathing, not the prices you're paying. A new study shows rats exposed to gasoline fumes became more aggressive, with repeated exposure altering their brain structures—a finding that could also apply to humans and road...