Rats appeared earlier than humans. According to paleontologists' research on fossils, early humans appeared in the Pliocene epoch, about 1.2 million years ago, while rats appeared in the Oligocene epoch, about 3.5 million years ago, 2.3 million years earlier than humans.
Chinese archaeologists unearthed piles of charred rat bones in a cave dating back 1 million years to the Lantian Man at Wanggongling, with traces of ancient human teeth still visible. Paleontologists have discovered that plague originated in the Tertiary period (30 million years ago). There have been three major plague outbreaks in the world: the first and second occurred in my country during the Sui Dynasty (6th century AD), and the third during the Song Dynasty (14th century AD). The first plague claimed nearly 100 million lives worldwide; the second killed 25 million in Europe alone and 40 million in Asia (13 million in China); the third occurred in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, affecting 32 countries.
Rats not only spread diseases but also kill people. In 1982, 45,000 people in the United States were bitten or died. The economic value of rat damage is also staggering. According to biologists, there are currently 4 billion rats in the world. Assuming each rat eats 8 kilograms of food per year, they consume 32 million tons of grain annually, enough to feed 250 million people for a year. my country was one of the first countries to implement rat control and extermination measures.
