rats

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>

German Rats Are Busted Attacking Bats Midair
Bats in Germany Had Better
Watch Out for the Rats
NEW STUDY
Oct 29, 2025 10:30 AM CDT

Bats in Germany Had Better Watch Out for the Rats

Urban rodents are recorded hunting bats that are flying by or on the ground

(Newser) - Rats are now on record as bat hunters. Infrared and thermal cameras set up at hibernation sites in two northern German towns captured brown rats in the act, with footage showing the rodents standing upright to snatch bats out of midair or ambushing them on the ground. This marks the...

She Fought the Rats, and the Rats (Kinda) Won

Or at least they outlasted NYC rat czar Kathleen Corradi, who's stepping down after 2 years in role

(Newser) - New York City's high-profile "rat czar," Kathleen Corradi, is stepping down after two years on the job, city officials have announced. Corradi, appointed by Mayor Eric Adams in 2023 to lead the city's ongoing fight against its estimated 3 million rats, will leave the post...

Rats Wreaking Havoc on California Almond Farms

Rodent infestation spreads as abandoned orchards fuel the surge

(Newser) - California's almond industry is under siege as a relentless rat infestation chews through crops and equipment, leaving a trail of damage costing farmers up to $310 million, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. According to the Almond Board of California, roof rats have damaged more than 100,000 acres...

EPA's Lab Animals Going Up for Adoption

Critics blame funding cuts, administration cites animal welfare concerns

(Newser) - The EPA is launching a new program allowing the adoption of some of its 20,000 lab animals as the agency faces major staffing and research cuts under the Trump administration. The plan to have staff members adopt animals including zebrafish and rats from an EPA lab in North...

This Rat Goes Where No Human Wants To

Cambodia's Ronin is first rodent to set world record for sniffing out more 100+ land mines, explosives

(Newser) - An African giant pouched rat is receiving accolades for his lifesaving work on the other side of the globe—and that work has just earned him a world record. Guinness is now celebrating Ronin—a 5-year-old Tanzania-born "super rat" that CNN notes is about the size of a house...

This Valentine's Day, Give Your Ex a Dead Rat

Or at least one named for them, and then feed it to an owl

(Newser) - For those who feel like dissing instead of kissing a former lover on Friday—Valentine's Day—you can name a dead frozen rat for your ex or send a message that they should never procreate. As the AP reports, animal shelters and zoos around the country are encouraging cathartic...

Humans Seem to Help Rat Populations Grow in Cities
Rat Sightings Indicate
Surging Urban Populations
new study
Feb 1, 2025 12:00 PM CST

Rat Sightings Indicate Surging Urban Populations

Washington, San Francisco lead in complaints about infestations

(Newser) - Rat infestation in many world cities appears to be soaring, especially in Washington, and a new study blames climate change, urbanization, and other human actions. A first-of-its-kind examination of trends and reasons in hard-to-count rat populations uses sighting reports in 16 cities around the world, the AP reports. In 11...

Houston, We Have a Drug-Addicted Rat Problem

City to eliminate narcotics evidence seized prior to 2015 as critters are getting high in police storerooms

(Newser) - Authorities in Houston, Texas, are looking to destroy long-held evidence that has spawned "drug-addicted rats" in police storerooms. At a Friday press conference, Houston police chief J Noe Diaz described "over 1.2 million pieces of evidence" held by the city's police, including notes from a 1947...

NYC Makes Big Change to How Residents Throw Out Trash

Bins are now required, after decades of plastic bags on the curb

(Newser) - For half a century, New York City residents have taken out their trash by flinging plastic bags stuffed with stinking garbage straight onto the sidewalk. When the bags inevitably leak or break open, they spill litter into the street, providing smorgasbords for rats. In the winter, the trash mounds get...

The US Cities That Rats Love Most
The US Cities That
Rats Love Most
Oct 22, 2024 8:32 AM CDT

The US Cities That Rats Love Most

Chicago tops Orkin's list for 10th year straight

(Newser) - For 10 years straight, one city has claimed the title of America's "rattiest city," according to the Orkin pest-control service , and it's "won" the honor again this year, reports Patch . That city would be Chicago, whose "abundance of alleys" has helped the rodents take...

Alaskan Island Is On the Hunt for a Solitary Rat

Residents of Alaska's St. Paul Island are desperate to keep invasive rodent away after reported sighting

(Newser) - On an island of windswept tundra in the Bering Sea, hundreds of miles from mainland Alaska, a resident sitting outside their home saw—well, did they see it? They were pretty sure they saw it. A rat. The purported sighting wouldn't have gotten attention in many places around the...

Big Apple Is Going to Lengths to Recycle Those Pizza Boxes

The containers of the city's most iconic food is getting its own personal recycling bin

(Newser) - New York City might as well be called the Big Pizza instead of the Big Apple, and Central Park is taking a rather unprecedented step toward recycling the boxes that hold that favorite pie: a recycling bin specifically designed to accept pizza boxes. "People want to do the right...

Chicago's 'Rat Hole' Is No More
Chicago Kills Its 'Rat Hole'
Apr 25, 2024 12:13 PM CDT

Chicago Kills Its 'Rat Hole'

Questionable landmark, an imprint of a rat on a sidewalk, is removed by DOT

(Newser) - The "rat hole" is gone. A Chicago sidewalk landmark some residents affectionately called the "rat hole" was removed Wednesday after city officials determined the section bearing the imprint of an animal was damaged and needed to be replaced, reports the AP . The imprint has been a quirk of...

Brown Rats Arrived in America Earlier Than Thought

They have since become the dominant rat of the nation, as a new study explains

(Newser) - Brown rats are the undisputed winners of the real rat race. New research suggests that they crawled off ships arriving in North America earlier than previously thought and out-competed rodent rivals, per the AP . It didn't take long for them to push aside the black rats that had likely...

He Was Bitten by a Toilet Rat. 18 Days Later, He Was in the ICU

The animal definitely didn't have a clean mouth

(Newser) - In a study that's not for the squeamish, doctors have determined that a man who became very ill after being bitten by a rat in his toilet was infected by bacteria in rat urine that was in the rat's mouth. According to the study published in the Canadian ...

New Orleans Police Chief: 'Rats Are Eating Our Marijuana'

Department to relocate from rodent-infested building lacking air conditioning, elevators

(Newser) - New Orleans' police chief pleaded for a new building to serve as police headquarters on Monday, summing up her case in just two sentences. "The rats are eating our marijuana. They're all high," Anne Kirkpatrick testified during a meeting of the city's criminal justice committee, eliciting...

Australian Town Battles a Literal Sea of Rats
On the Day the Rats Arrived,
He Filled 18 Bags With Bodies
in case you missed it
Dec 3, 2023 7:00 AM CST

On the Day the Rats Arrived, He Filled 18 Bags With Bodies

An Australian town is suffering from a plague of long-haired rats

(Newser) - "It is still livable," says a local official, but after reading about the situation in the Australian town of Karumba, you might disagree. It, along with other towns in Western Queensland, is suffering from an invasion of long-haired rats. NPR reports that healthy rainfall led to a boom...

Rats Have Imaginations, Too


Rats Have
Imaginations,
Just Like
We Do
new study
Nov 6, 2023 10:10 AM CST

Rats Have Imaginations, Just Like We Do

Study has wide-ranging implications, and not just for rodents

(Newser) - Humans aren't the only creatures in the animal kingdom with imaginations, a new study suggests. It seems that rats are in the club, too, reports Scientific American . In a series of remarkable experiments, researchers at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Virginia concluded that rats are capable of visualizing...

Meet Public Enemy No. 1 in New Zealand
New Zealand
Is Waging War
With This Guy
longform
Jul 1, 2023 4:33 PM CDT

New Zealand Is Waging War With This Guy

Island nation aims to eradicate rats by 2050 to save its native birds, and the BBC assesses its progress

(Newser) - Seven years ago, New Zealand passed a law declaring that it aimed to eradicate rats by the year 2050, with the idea of saving its native birds. With 27 years to go until the deadline, the BBC checks in on how things are going, and it sounds a little exhausting,...

UK Quietly Does 180 on Animal Testing of Makeup

Government apparently reversed its stance in 2019, after decades-long ban

(Newser) - The UK government had banned the testing of makeup ingredients on animals for more than two decades when it quietly reversed its stance in 2019. It began issuing licenses for animal testing of cosmetic ingredients in line with European Union rules, which don't allow animal testing to determine whether...

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>
Most Read on Newser