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Rats reprieved as giant gerbils are blamed for the Black Death
The Times of London ^ | February 24, 2015 | Valentine Low

Posted on 02/24/2015 3:05:16 PM PST by SteveH

Gerbils are cute and furry creatures. They may also, according to scientists, have been responsible for killing millions of people across Europe by spreading the plague.

Researchers now believe that gerbils from Asia, rather than native black rats, were behind the repeated outbreaks of the bubonic plague in Europe.

(Excerpt) Read more at thetimes.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: blackdeath; blackplague; gerbils; globalwarminghoax; godsgravesglyphs; plague; ratreservoir; rats; silkroad; silkroute; yersiniapestis
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To: Tax-chick; IronJack

And voles, I’d guess, although a lot of people think I’m saying moles when I say voles, then when I explain, they reach for their smart phones because they th ink I’m making it up. The nerve. ;’)

Hanta virus is definitely hosted by smaller N American rodents.

http://pediatriceducation.org/2011/02/07/what-diseases-are-spread-directly-by-rodents/


41 posted on 02/25/2015 11:02:27 AM PST by SunkenCiv (What do we want? REGIME CHANGE! When do we want it? NOW!)
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> Prof Stenseth and his colleagues do not think a rat reservoir was to blame. They compared tree-ring records from Europe with 7,711 historical plague outbreaks to see if the weather conditions would have been optimum for a rat-driven outbreak. He said: “For this, you would need warm summers, with not too much precipitation. Dry but not too dry. And we have looked at the broad spectrum of climatic indices, and there is no relationship between the appearance of plague and the weather.” Instead, the team believes that specific weather conditions in Asia may have caused another plague-carrying rodent - the giant gerbil - to thrive.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-31588671


42 posted on 02/25/2015 11:26:01 AM PST by SunkenCiv (What do we want? REGIME CHANGE! When do we want it? NOW!)
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To: gleeaikin; StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; decimon; 1010RD; 21twelve; 24Karet; ...
Thanks gleeaikin.

43 posted on 02/25/2015 11:26:45 AM PST by SunkenCiv (What do we want? REGIME CHANGE! When do we want it? NOW!)
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To: SunkenCiv

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_gerbil


44 posted on 02/25/2015 11:38:41 AM PST by glock rocks (Whenever I find myself in a conundrum, I ask myself: What would Elvis do?)
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To: glock rocks

I think I had one of those great gerbils peek right into my camera lens once.


45 posted on 02/25/2015 11:55:08 AM PST by SunkenCiv (What do we want? REGIME CHANGE! When do we want it? NOW!)
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To: SteveH
This may be true, but rats are still troublesome creatures...


46 posted on 02/25/2015 12:09:07 PM PST by Fresh Wind (Falcon 105)
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To: beethovenfan
“Size matters.” - Bawney Fwank and other turd tillers.

Sam Kinison quotes come to mind. I have no idea who the Pet Shop Boys are, but I can kinda figure it out from Sam.

"That's why I didn't get the Pet Shop Boys, I didn't know. I thought, what a stupid thing to name your band; The Pet Shop Boys. Then I realized .... oh man."

"Thanks to gays, hamsters and gerbils are extinct in California!"

47 posted on 02/25/2015 12:12:35 PM PST by Darren McCarty (Mike Pence in 2016)
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To: SteveH

This thread made me google “Richard Gere gerbil”. I had never heard that story before. Pretty funny stuff.


48 posted on 02/25/2015 1:28:03 PM PST by jalisco555 ("My 80% friend is not my 20% enemy" - Ronald Reagan)
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To: SteveH; SunkenCiv

Regardless of exactly which species of rodents were involved, it all comes down to ailurophobes.


49 posted on 02/25/2015 3:02:01 PM PST by ApplegateRanch (Love me, love my guns!©)
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To: SunkenCiv; All

I have seen plenty of nocturnal gray (Norwegian) rats in NE US cities. I occasionally see one in daytime, but usually it is young, or sick. I was once walking at night when a huge rat looking creature ran in front of me. I screamed, but then realized it was an urban opossum. I once read that 17 western states had endemic bubonic plague among their rodents, especially the prairie dog colonies.


50 posted on 02/25/2015 11:32:24 PM PST by gleeaikin
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To: SunkenCiv

Our cats used to hunt voles and leave the little corpses on the doorstep.


51 posted on 02/26/2015 4:05:54 AM PST by Tax-chick (Wash, rinse, dry, put away.)
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To: Tax-chick

My late mother had a single infestation of them in the old farmhouse, the little darlings succumbed to the D-Con just like the mice. That was my first look at one, he just looked over at me. Close relative of the hamster and lemming, and kinda cute as rodents go.


52 posted on 02/26/2015 6:06:43 AM PST by SunkenCiv (What do we want? REGIME CHANGE! When do we want it? NOW!)
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To: ApplegateRanch

I’ll admit, some of them do have ailure.


53 posted on 02/26/2015 6:07:54 AM PST by SunkenCiv (What do we want? REGIME CHANGE! When do we want it? NOW!)
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To: gleeaikin

http://www.cdc.gov/plague/maps/index.html

The bubonic plague is still active and it kills around the world every year. I found this link which I hope has some value. The is from the Centers for Disease Control.


54 posted on 04/06/2015 7:00:50 PM PDT by citizen352 (I have done no harm. But I remember now. l am in this earthly world...)
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