The chronicle=news., 1913-05-16
RATSW0NOERFU[
SW|MMERSANO
JUMPERS

ing with rats at the san Juan quar-
antine station. learned To their sur
prise recently that the rodents. scu-
eraiy speaking. are excellent swim
mers. good tight rope or slack wire
walkers and high jumpers,
The experiments were more In M
fcffori TO learn more about the hab-
It's OF the rat in order 10 simplify
the determination Of II. which Is he
Ing sough, "A this and almost ever,
other country.
The fuiI grown yra, rat was not
supposed 10 be "a flrs; class sw..l-
mcr. but the tests showed that when
sast adiifl II" could swim from u
quarter to n half mile In the ocean,
when the wafer was smooth. and ef-
feet Il safe landing. The greatest
difficulty experienced by the ro'
dents. however. appeared 10 be
finding the direction In which the
land igy.
On. large gray rat, released ,.o'
feet from abort. swan for an hn';i
and "a hllf IN u rather rough ssa. ba'
r.rt!on. Stil anotncr. released i5c
'rrt from shore. reached the land In
.s'S minute. II mixhi be added.
however. that the second rat WAS
picked up In u swamyy ser.ion. Will,
the first on. cam. frcn dry land. !
ihird gay raj swan i.,sd feet G.
the shore In 81 minutes. Two black
nj Ia hA nj
proved poor swimmers.
The gray rat swims chiefly with
It's hind lcss ard 'p!i. The foE'i.a
arc KEEP, folded up near she body an,
only uSci In eases of emergency. Tie
black rat. however. makes more IRE
au"n, use of Its front legs.
Gray rats ar" great hufrow'rs.
Thos-, used In III. -Sp.rim ats wen,
down two and half feet In two
days. Black rats failed to bufrow.
hiding themselves In grass. These
experiments w"r. made by placini
the rodents In galvanized Iron ring'
sunk In the ground.
sun dried brick aud lin. mortar
proved Of little hindrrncc To III,
-rny rats. They bored through such
n wall with great speed. Most Of tho
brick aud mortar was removed b,
gna wing. although there was some
burrowinI. The English pls.u, com
mission r.nor's that rats used In
their experiments rnawcd through
concrete. bu, ihis - disrrcdit.d b,
the official rspot, of u. u. crr.i.
who maze the tests for the United
States.
Full crown rat. had little difficult
~ in climbing tees and a l-!nch
sian.ipipc which wns used IN tn.
tests. but they failed In an effort io
Chamber up u concrete building cor
nor. One ra, jumped I. Inches
from n TIRE. to tn. top Of tn" stock
aic and landed safely. There n ne
doubt. says tn" report. that III. black
rat can gain the upper story OF n
building by climbing pipes or wircs
and can travel overhead from on"
building to another Oh wires.
Perhaps the most remarkable. thing
noted in all Iii. experiments was tn.
manner In which u rat escaped from
y garbage can. two feed deep. Fist
he ran around the bottom OF til" cnu
got good start and then jumped
upon the side ~ soon ~ nis feet
touched iron he sprans IL" continued
to jump upon landing until he final
ly cleared the top aud escaped. IN.
OF her rat. In AN effort to scale th.
stockadc. jumped upward two feet.
srft All
chc.sc il not the bcs. hiatt for th'
rodents. Thosc that stay around
butcher shops an slaughter house,
eat more readily of fresh meat:
green groccrs' rats iIk. fresh rcrc-
tables. Will. n sewer rat Will eat
anything without regard t. the pure
food and drug act.
The gray rat is cann.bal. The
supply uscd in the experiments con-
s,antly had to be rcplan!shrd. Us
ually the younger rats sIccumbcd.
The black rat Is canrlbalisiic TO an
extent. but not so pronounced as his
gray brother.
1t is the hope of those connected
with the United States public health
be- eliminated In this country. hut ai
yet the inroads on their numbers IL
exceedingly small. However. n per
sistcnt fight is being made on them
and much literature dealing with tn,
pest i being prepared and sent out
The latest angle to be taken VI
deals with the popular fallacy that
r,.u may hc eliminated by trans and
poison. I, ia pointed out that TIL.
only goes half the way II redi,c5
their numbers. but consequently the
food supply for the remaining to-
dents is greater. and thus mul'ipli-
cation is promoted. 1t is pointed out.
Neither trapping nor poisoning
nor the combination of the two VIII
alone rid the promises of rats. saya
the latest bulletin. They breed four
Il .t.t. a.