Is a new breed evolving on Britains rubbish-strewn streets?
Patrick Barkham investigates Tuesday September 19, 2006 The Guardian Twenty-two inches from quivering whisker to fat tail, they can chomp through concrete and leap more than two feet in the air. Sauntering down your street in broad daylight, insolently raising two claws to the binman, they rifle through your rubbish and scoff poison as if it was milk chocolate. There is something of the night and also something of the urban myth about the nearly indestructible super rat coming to a pile of carelessly discarded foodstuffs near you. But Britain’s pest controllers are adamant: they are receiving more panicky reports of rodent infestation than ever, and it does seem that our rats are evolving into something not seen before. Over the past five years, the number of infestations of Rattus norvegicus, better known as the brown rat, has steadily increased, according to figures collected by the National Pest Technician’s Association. Infestation dipped last year by 8% but is widely forecast to r
