Rats!
Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 11:39 pm
It's some of the swankiest real estate in Manhattan, and it's overrun with rats.
The Grand Army Plaza Park, in the shadow of the world-renowned Plaza hotel, is home to a burgeoning brood of rodents.
The city park - which borders Fifth Ave. just north of Central Park South and across from the famed fountain in front of The Plaza - is infested with pint-sized, four-legged squatters.
They are frightening tourists and even some jaded New Yorkers.
"They are big. They look like rabbits," said food cart vendor Reese Perez, 60, as he watched the parade of rats from across East Drive on the edge of Central Park.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/201 ... z1VKfL7p00
NEW YORK, NY (PIX11)— There was a time when rats in the East Village was hardly considered news. But since the city stopped laying down poison this summer, the rat population in Tompkins Square Park has exploded.
http://www.wpix.com/news/local/wpix-rat ... 7537.story
The world's largest known rodent, the capybara, was spotted by workers at the Paso Robles Wastewater Treatment Plant and photographed before submerging back into the water, reported Fox 35.
"I received a call from the city of Paso Robles sewer plant," Tom Tognazzini of the Department of Fish and Game told Your Central Coast News. This gigantic capybara is believed to weigh between 100-120 lbs.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/08/ ... z1VKgA1ZfP
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/08/ ... ent-plant/
And now for the weird part -
Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between danger and sex appeal, at least for rats infected with a parasite that twists ancient rat instincts to its own advantage.
The parasite, a common single-celled organism called Toxoplasma gondii, infects all sorts of animals, including rats, in which it causes a strange transformation.
For obvious reasons, rats normally avoid cats. In the presence of cat urine they become very timid — unless they’re infected with Toxoplasma. Research over the past 10 years has shown that infected rats drop their normal fearful “freezing” response, and instead go exploring. They even approach the cat smell.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/23/scien ... asite.html
The Grand Army Plaza Park, in the shadow of the world-renowned Plaza hotel, is home to a burgeoning brood of rodents.
The city park - which borders Fifth Ave. just north of Central Park South and across from the famed fountain in front of The Plaza - is infested with pint-sized, four-legged squatters.
They are frightening tourists and even some jaded New Yorkers.
"They are big. They look like rabbits," said food cart vendor Reese Perez, 60, as he watched the parade of rats from across East Drive on the edge of Central Park.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/201 ... z1VKfL7p00
NEW YORK, NY (PIX11)— There was a time when rats in the East Village was hardly considered news. But since the city stopped laying down poison this summer, the rat population in Tompkins Square Park has exploded.
http://www.wpix.com/news/local/wpix-rat ... 7537.story
The world's largest known rodent, the capybara, was spotted by workers at the Paso Robles Wastewater Treatment Plant and photographed before submerging back into the water, reported Fox 35.
"I received a call from the city of Paso Robles sewer plant," Tom Tognazzini of the Department of Fish and Game told Your Central Coast News. This gigantic capybara is believed to weigh between 100-120 lbs.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/08/ ... z1VKgA1ZfP
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/08/ ... ent-plant/
And now for the weird part -
Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between danger and sex appeal, at least for rats infected with a parasite that twists ancient rat instincts to its own advantage.
The parasite, a common single-celled organism called Toxoplasma gondii, infects all sorts of animals, including rats, in which it causes a strange transformation.
For obvious reasons, rats normally avoid cats. In the presence of cat urine they become very timid — unless they’re infected with Toxoplasma. Research over the past 10 years has shown that infected rats drop their normal fearful “freezing” response, and instead go exploring. They even approach the cat smell.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/23/scien ... asite.html