Thanks gleeaikin.
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 ...
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/
> 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
Thanks gleeaikin.
I think I had one of those great gerbils peek right into my camera lens once.
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!"
This thread made me google “Richard Gere gerbil”. I had never heard that story before. Pretty funny stuff.
Regardless of exactly which species of rodents were involved, it all comes down to ailurophobes.
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.
Our cats used to hunt voles and leave the little corpses on the doorstep.
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.
I’ll admit, some of them do have ailure.
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.
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