The Story of Rats: Their Impact on Us, and Our Impact on Them

✍ Scribed by S. Anthony Barnett

• Publisher: Allen & Unwin
• Year: 2002
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 217
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

More than the story of how people and rats live together, this book takes a serious and intriguing look at science and scientists, the problems they solve and fail to solve, and the scope and imperfections of our scientific knowledge of the world. It answers questions such as: Are rats still a threat to human health? Do rats think? Is it true that wild rats sometimes die, unwounded, from social stress? Can studies of rat societies tell us anything useful about our own social lives? This compelling historical and social study will capture the interest of all readers—from those fascinated by rats to those who cringe—by explaining the delicate and sometimes volatile impacts humans and rats have had on each other over the centuries and into the modern age.

✦ Table of Contents

CONTENTS......Page 8
Illustrations......Page 11
Preface......Page 13
PART I HISTORIES......Page 16
1 Tales of Rats......Page 18
Abominations and Horrors......Page 20
Magic, Sport and Nourishment......Page 23
The Names of the Species......Page 29
Conflict Between Species......Page 32
Taming and Domestication......Page 36
Mud Fever......Page 39
How Not to Handle Wild Rats......Page 41
Plague......Page 42
The Black Death......Page 44
Public Health......Page 51
Yersinia pestis......Page 54
Modern Plague......Page 56
New Viruses......Page 59
PART II QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS......Page 66
4 A Battle of Wits?......Page 68
What Do Rats Really Do?......Page 69
Neophobia: Can Curiosity Kill the Rat?......Page 71
Neophilia and Natural Selection......Page 73
5 Do Rats Think?......Page 79
Finding the Way......Page 80
Students in Mazes: A Detour......Page 82
Patrolling and Sampling......Page 83
Mechanistic Psychology......Page 86
Do Rats Get Bored?......Page 92
Playing to Learn......Page 93
The Question of Thinking......Page 96
Are People Ever Like Rats?......Page 98
The Tree of Knowledge......Page 100
Thought About Thought......Page 103
6 Are Rats Gluttons?......Page 106
Selecting from a Menu......Page 107
Consuming Passions......Page 112
Poison Shyness......Page 113
Psychologists Develop an Aversion......Page 116
A Clinical Contribution......Page 118
Social Feeding: Black Rats in Pine Forests......Page 120
Social Feeding: White Rats in Cages......Page 121
Early Learning......Page 126
Learning: Limited and Unlimited......Page 128
7 All in Their Genes?......Page 130
Some Unnatural Selection......Page 131
Petted Rats......Page 134
Are Rats Darwinian?......Page 137
8 Rat Societies......Page 143
Social Signals: The Show of Violence......Page 144
Close Encounters......Page 151
Assault with Battery......Page 152
Rat Slaughter......Page 154
A Diversity of Species......Page 157
PART III THE BLINDNESS OF RESEARCH......Page 162
9 Population Explosions......Page 164
Density Dependence......Page 166
Underground Warfare......Page 168
Awkward Questions......Page 171
Rice Rats and the Economic Threshold......Page 173
Social Sedation versus Social Stress......Page 174
10 Social Life and Death......Page 179
The Search for Instability......Page 180
More Social Stress......Page 182
Is DUO Darwinian?......Page 186
11 Nature and Human Nature......Page 188
B......Page 192
D......Page 193
E......Page 194
G......Page 195
I......Page 196
M......Page 197
R......Page 198
T......Page 199
Z......Page 200
Notes on sources......Page 201
References......Page 203
B......Page 211
D......Page 212
H......Page 213
M......Page 214
R......Page 215
T......Page 216
Z......Page 217