Spread of Black Rats Was Linked to Human Historical Events

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New ancient DNA analysis has shed light on how the black rat, blamed for spreading Black Death, dispersed across Europe – revealing that the rodent colonised the continent on two occasions in the Roman and Medieval periods. The study, led by the University of York along with the University of Oxford and the Max Planck Institutes for the Science of Human History (Jena) and Evolutionary Anthropology (Leipzig), is the first ancient genetic study of the species, also known as the ship rat.

Publication: He Yu, et al., Palaeogenomic analysis of black rat (Rattus rattus) reveals multiple European introductions associated with human economic history, Nature Communications (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-30009-z

Original Story Source: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology