What if rats disappeared from Earth?

Rats are medium-sized rodents with short fur, pointed snout, erect rounded ears, bulging eyes, long antennae, long naked tail, and five-toed paws.

Rats are native to Asia and Ausatralia, then they began to follow humans to move and spread to live all over the world with more than 60 different species. But the animal is often hated due to its history as a vector of disease, rodent damage to furniture and poor sanitation. Therefore, rats are one of the most hated animals by humans, and some people even sometimes wish a world without rats.

In fact, rats are just trying to survive like every other animal around us, but they have no fault at all. In addition to destruction and trouble, rats also have certain benefits and roles in maintaining ecological balance.

What if rats went extinct?

Rats are responsible for cleaning, they will eat garbage and other things that people throw away. Without them, most of the waste will stay around us, making the environment around you full of garbage, easy to spread diseases and cost a lot of money to clean up.

Rats also play an important role in the food chain as prey for many animals such as snakes, eagles and several others. If rats disappear, these animals will lose their food source and have to find an alternative source, some species may even be threatened with extinction.

Rats also have a role in dispersing seeds from plants, helping many plants grow and survive. In short, the disappearance of rats will affect the balance of ecosystems on Earth.

Marvin Fry

Update 01 June 2023