Brown Rats in the United Kingdom

The brown rat (Rattus norvegicus), is thought to have originated in northern China and neighbouring areas, although this rodent has now spread to all continents (except Antarctica), and is the dominant rat species in Europe and much of North America.

Pick up any text book that talks about the arrival of the rat (either species) into the United Kingdom and you tend to read the same answer. For the Black rat (Rattus rattus) this species arrived in the 12th Century, following on from the Crusades, and for the Brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) the arrival date was during the 18th Century .

Suckow et al. (2006), suggests that the arrival of the Brown rat occurred between 1728 and 1730, a date that is widely quoted elsewhere. The reason for this isn't entirely clear, but it is believed to be tied in with the arrival of Russian fleets from the Baltic and rats being noticed in large numbers in some areas of the UK.

The father of the Naturalist Charles Waterton (1782-1865) however, was convinced that the Brown rat came over with George 1st in 1714. This was largely because both George 1st and the brown rat were seemingly very unpopular. It is also where the brown rat gets the title 'Hanoverian rat'. Interestingly his son (Charles Waterton, Essays on Natural History), reported that the Brown rat came over with William of Orange, another unpopular monarch, in 1688. Yet another theory, written by an American Scholar Alfred Henry Miles in 1895, links the arrival to trade with Central Asia from the end of the 17th C. One thing is certain however, despite it's scientific name, the Brown rat did not come from Norway. The Brown rat is not known to have reached Norway until 1762.

(Mostly based on https://www.nfrs.org/articles_arrival.html)
Suckow et al. (2006) The Laboratory Rat, 2nd ed. Academic Press. pp. 74. ISBN 0-12-074903-3.

Publicado el 12 de febrero de 2023 por heliastes21