#ultrasonic-communication

#ultrasonic-communication

New York City is home to some three million rats, and learning how these rodent residents navigate and communicate is vital to understanding their impact on humans. A new preprint shows attempts to compare observations of brown rats in the city to the behaviors described in scientific literature more broadly. Studying rats in three locationscity parks, sidewalks, and the subwaythe team found that NYC rats are incredibly adaptable, changing their vocalizations based on different ambient backdrops.

The findings shed light on how rats have adapted to city lifeand how chatty they are. There's this kind of secret language that rats are communicating in with each other that we don't hear, says Emily Mackevicius, a neuroscientist and a co-author of the study. They're very social, adds Ralph Peterson, another study co-author. They're rugged, and they're New Yorkers themselves: persistent and resilient and able to thrive in a very extreme environment.