Over the history of civilization, rats traveled wherever humans traveled. That is, if you count "civilization" as the time beginning when we started growing our own grains. Rats love those things. But furthermore, rats traveled to places where people didn't migrate as much, so they managed to spread fleas and disease to far-flung populations of people, like the plague, which changed Europe forever. They are also invasive species to places all over the world, takemn there by people, who you have to admit are also an invasive species.
But the misery that rats spread among humans and various ecosystems wasn't because they are evil. They've just become dependent on humans to provide their food, and we are very good at that. This TED-Ed lesson from Max G. Levy tells us the good things about rats, too. The video was directed by Ukrainian illustrator and animator Denys Spolitak. -via Laughing Squid
