Its dark and Im parked in an alley near a lopsided compost bin.
I have a notepad, binoculars and a lukewarm cup of coffee everything needed for a successful stakeout.
I am waiting for them.
I am trying to track their movements, to understand how far they go and how often.
But its clear to me that the traditional detective approach isnt going to work.
There are too many and they move in places where I cant follow.
Ill have to track them a different way Im going to need some rat DNA.
Take a trip to a city almost anywhere in the world and odds are that you will find rats.
But rats are wary of traps, and veryfew rats will re-enter them more than once.
To get around issues of trappability, researchers can use GPS technologies.
In fact, miniaturization of tags has allowed us to attach GPS tags to rats.
Thank you, next?
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Chances are youve heard of companies like23andMe that track your global ancestry by sequencing DNA from your saliva.
This can also be applied to rats.
Indeed,researchers have used genetics to track the migration of rats globally.
But how can this information help us to understand and address rat-associated issues?
By looking at relatedness of individuals based on genetic similarity, we can identify groups of relatives.
Weve found that relatives are often in close proximity to each other.
This is useful to know because it can help inform how we address rat-associated concerns.
Pathogens on the block
Rats carry a number ofdisease-causing organisms that can be transmitted to people.
This is partly because we fail to appropriately scale our control response.
Most control efforts are enacted at a single property.
If we look to the DNA, however, we see why that approach wont cut it.
Rats and rat colonies are often not restricted to a single property.
For control efforts to be effective, they must encompass the genetic group, termed an eradication unit.
For example, in Vancouvera genetic cluster of related rats occupies an entire block, or spans several blocks.
By comparison, researchers have found thatan eradication unit might encompass an entire valley in Salvador, Brazil.
I wonder if any are outsiders, migrants from another block.
I check my bag and realize that somethings missing.
Tomorrow Ill be back with what I need for DNA collection: my Rat Detective Toolkit 2.0.
