Scientists In New York City Use Pheromones To Track Rats

 

People have had issues with rats for a very, very long time. In any case, researchers are presently offering what they say is a new interpretation of the metropolitan rodent issue: the rodents' own noses.

Any place and at whatever point there has been a city, there have been rodents. There were a lot of rats.

According to research published in the Oxford University Press Journal of Urban Ecology, pheromones found in the scents of other rats can be used to lure rats to certain locations or keep them away. 

Each year, rats cost the global economy more than $300 billion. Rats spread disease, start fires, and disable automobiles, in addition to resulting in fines and business closures. In 23 percent of all Manhattan restaurants, rodent activity has been observed. Despite these effects, little is known about urban rats' behavior, which differs from laboratory rats. The difficulty of releasing pest animals back into cities after capturing and identifying them, the unwillingness of property owners to grant researchers access, and rat control programs are all contributing factors to this lack of information.

In a Brooklyn, New York, waste recycling center, researchers trapped and implanted microchips in city rats for a year. They made use of radio-frequency identification sensors to get around the problems that came up when using GPS to track movement in dense urban environments. After that, male and female scents were placed on the sensors or near them, and they were changed every two weeks. These devices were placed in riskier, open environments where rats were susceptible to predation and in sheltered, safe areas that rats were familiar with to determine whether risk affected the results.

The rats used these sensors as beacons. Taking into consideration the perspective of the rat, scientists would place them in various locations. While some sensors were placed in riskier environments—places where the rats might become prey to one animal or another—other sensors were placed in sheltered, secure areas that the rats were familiar with. 

Scientists applied male and female pheromones to all sensors, which they frequently reapplied. Compared to humans, rats have a much better sense of smell. A rat can detect chemicals that indicate a shift in atmosphere or emotion, in addition to the usual selection of smells that are available to the human nostril.

Male and female scents had different effects on rats. In general, rats' responses to male scent sensors did not significantly increase the risk. In both sheltered and exposed areas, rats briefly visited male scents before avoiding them. However, female scents were visited significantly more frequently than male scents (0.2 visits per day versus 5.02 visits per day). This suggests that deterrent scents may be more effective in exposed areas where animals are vulnerable to predators, while attractants may be more effective in proximity to protected areas. These results fill a void in our understanding of the rat's preference for rat odor, which could be useful for the application of baits or I-M U N-E contraceptives in urban wildlife management strategies. 

Everything has context. The team from Fordham University, Columbia University, and Arrow Exterminators Inc. has identified the primary reasons holding back scent-based control tools. If we are able to identify the scents and contexts that are most useful, then we increase our chances of creating novel control tools. However, additional research is required under a wide range of conditions. They argue that if they want to use scents to fight rats, they need more access to urban properties