Gerbils may be the real rats of The Black Death
February 25, 2015 4:28 PM Subscribe
Gerbils, not rats, 'gave Europe the Black Death' BLACK rats might not be responsible for the plagues that killed millions of people across medieval Europe, research suggests.
Instead scientists believe that repeated outbreaks of the Black Death may in fact be traced to gerbils arriving from Asia.
Related article:
'Gerbils replace rats' as main cause of Black Death
Related article:
'Gerbils replace rats' as main cause of Black Death
The hamsters on the other hand are just dancing with delight.
posted by jonmc at 4:59 PM on February 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by jonmc at 4:59 PM on February 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
And Y. pestis is getting no credit at all.
posted by sobarel at 4:59 PM on February 25, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by sobarel at 4:59 PM on February 25, 2015 [6 favorites]
What's a pathogen got to do to get some credit around here?
posted by mollweide at 5:06 PM on February 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by mollweide at 5:06 PM on February 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
so gerbils from Asia transmitted the plague to Europe, but people systematically deny any kind of transfer of inventions or technology from Asia. all the bad stuff came from Asia. none of the good stuff managed to make it over.
posted by ChuckRamone at 5:14 PM on February 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by ChuckRamone at 5:14 PM on February 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
I always thought they were little shitheads.
posted by triage_lazarus at 5:21 PM on February 25, 2015
posted by triage_lazarus at 5:21 PM on February 25, 2015
Kill all the snakes out of irrational fear, do away with the rapacious birds with your poisons, and there you have it - rodents and other vermin spreading disease, ruining your crops and killing off your loved ones.
There's not a damn lizard to be seen in our neck of the woods. That can't be normal in a place so verdant, so full of prey for them. But that's the way it is. That's how it was back in 2003. I nursed my wife through Haunta. Just barely. Almost lost her. She had taken it upon herself to clean out some old outbuildings, and the dust almost took her away. We were safe from hawks and snakes, though. Oh, and I'm talking Utah and Missouri, over the span of a decade. No snakes, no lizards to be seen in either place where humans have made their homes. Enjoy your damn diseases, people. You've earned them. Maybe you can come up with a new drug.
And there was not a soul to help us through my wife's illness. Not a damn soul.
posted by metagnathous at 5:25 PM on February 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
There's not a damn lizard to be seen in our neck of the woods. That can't be normal in a place so verdant, so full of prey for them. But that's the way it is. That's how it was back in 2003. I nursed my wife through Haunta. Just barely. Almost lost her. She had taken it upon herself to clean out some old outbuildings, and the dust almost took her away. We were safe from hawks and snakes, though. Oh, and I'm talking Utah and Missouri, over the span of a decade. No snakes, no lizards to be seen in either place where humans have made their homes. Enjoy your damn diseases, people. You've earned them. Maybe you can come up with a new drug.
And there was not a soul to help us through my wife's illness. Not a damn soul.
posted by metagnathous at 5:25 PM on February 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
Just wait 'til Fox News picks up this story.
Weaponized Gerbils Present New Terror Threat
posted by adept256 at 5:45 PM on February 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
Weaponized Gerbils Present New Terror Threat
posted by adept256 at 5:45 PM on February 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
As revealed in the great prophecy.
posted by sebastienbailard at 6:01 PM on February 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by sebastienbailard at 6:01 PM on February 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
Since I'm not working in the field, I only see the pop stuff like this, but the way that hard data and science applied to history are improving our knowledge of the past every year is one of the most exciting things about history to me. I'm not sorry I'm not teaching, but I wish I were researching with access to the tools we can use now that we didn't have when I was in grad school.
posted by immlass at 6:36 PM on February 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by immlass at 6:36 PM on February 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
Habitrails Of Destruction!
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:43 PM on February 25, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:43 PM on February 25, 2015 [4 favorites]
all the bad stuff came from Asia. none of the good stuff managed to make it over.
Not true. Ultraman, Godzilla, egg rolls, moo goo gai pan—all kinds of good stuff came from Asia!
posted by octobersurprise at 6:52 PM on February 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
Not true. Ultraman, Godzilla, egg rolls, moo goo gai pan—all kinds of good stuff came from Asia!
posted by octobersurprise at 6:52 PM on February 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
Suddenly, the medieval concept of the rota fortuna makes total sense.
posted by condour75 at 8:04 PM on February 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by condour75 at 8:04 PM on February 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
Black rats sound kind of evil: the Gerbils of Death just don't have the same ring
posted by Segundus at 3:03 AM on February 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Segundus at 3:03 AM on February 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
Not true. Ultraman, Godzilla, egg rolls, moo goo gai pan—all kinds of good stuff came from Asia!
I mean in the pre-modern era. People act like before the era of European colonization, there was this impenetrable wall between "West" and "East" and nothing made it across, at least that's how Western scholars talk about it. Go read, for instance, the Talk page on Wikipedia about the invention of printing, or any historical book actually. You'll be hard pressed to find any notion of ideas coming from the East. Yet we have the Silk Road and obvious trade happening. The Europeans didn't get any hints or ideas from the long-standing tradition of printing from China but fleas on gerbils managed to hitch a ride and then transmit those fleas to rats who then infected Europeans? Sure, I don't doubt that's what could easily have happened. But people are so readily accepting of this disease vector theory but not of the possibility that any cultural elements or Eastern ideas made it over? The Eurocentrism is strong here. Thank god rock 'n' roll happened after the advent of photography and recording technology.
posted by ChuckRamone at 6:32 AM on February 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
I mean in the pre-modern era. People act like before the era of European colonization, there was this impenetrable wall between "West" and "East" and nothing made it across, at least that's how Western scholars talk about it. Go read, for instance, the Talk page on Wikipedia about the invention of printing, or any historical book actually. You'll be hard pressed to find any notion of ideas coming from the East. Yet we have the Silk Road and obvious trade happening. The Europeans didn't get any hints or ideas from the long-standing tradition of printing from China but fleas on gerbils managed to hitch a ride and then transmit those fleas to rats who then infected Europeans? Sure, I don't doubt that's what could easily have happened. But people are so readily accepting of this disease vector theory but not of the possibility that any cultural elements or Eastern ideas made it over? The Eurocentrism is strong here. Thank god rock 'n' roll happened after the advent of photography and recording technology.
posted by ChuckRamone at 6:32 AM on February 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
I am pleased on the rats' behalf. They have been slandered far too long.
posted by imnotasquirrel at 7:31 AM on February 26, 2015
posted by imnotasquirrel at 7:31 AM on February 26, 2015
Re good things from Asia: Yes, I realize Westerners are often terribly oblivious. But just off the top of my head, my recollection is that Italian pasta actually originated with bringing the concept of noodles back from Asia, that paper came from Asia, that gun powder came from Asia (which China used to make pretty fireworks and it didn't turn into serious weaponry until the West got hold of it cuz PRIORITIES), and that lode stones were used for Feng Shui in the East and eventually became a compass in the West. Also, the spice trade is, as I understand, where we get the expression "your ship will come in" because it was dangerous and some ships never made it back, but spices were so very valuable that if you invested in a company trying to bring back a boatload of spices and it actually made it back, you were basically set for life (or so I gather and iirc -- no I am not going to look up citations).
Granted, I did take "History of the Far East" in college when I was a history major for a time -- granted, just having a class called "History of the Far East" somewhat proves your point in that, yeah, that covered China and Japan and other things Asian in one course, whereas we had like two or three classes devoted to the American Civil War alone (or WWII or whatever). But, to be fair, I bet Asians are also somewhat guilty of knowing their own history better than that of foreigners in distant lands.
/derail
Anyway, yeah, Gerbils of Destruction, Cutest Evil Wave Ever.
posted by Michele in California at 10:42 AM on February 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
Granted, I did take "History of the Far East" in college when I was a history major for a time -- granted, just having a class called "History of the Far East" somewhat proves your point in that, yeah, that covered China and Japan and other things Asian in one course, whereas we had like two or three classes devoted to the American Civil War alone (or WWII or whatever). But, to be fair, I bet Asians are also somewhat guilty of knowing their own history better than that of foreigners in distant lands.
/derail
Anyway, yeah, Gerbils of Destruction, Cutest Evil Wave Ever.
posted by Michele in California at 10:42 AM on February 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
No, gerbils did not cause the black death.
How the reporting went wrong.
posted by gudrun at 9:17 AM on March 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
How the reporting went wrong.
posted by gudrun at 9:17 AM on March 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
Sigh.
So, no Gerbils of Mass Destruction afterall.
Well, durn.
posted by Michele in California at 10:22 AM on March 2, 2015
So, no Gerbils of Mass Destruction afterall.
Well, durn.
posted by Michele in California at 10:22 AM on March 2, 2015
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