Planet of the Rats

I thought I would just stop and write about some thoughts I had recently linking a few bits and pieces together. Enjoy the ramble through my thought process.

There have been many attempts over he years to write science fiction stories about dangerous packs of rats. In literature probably the most famous is James Herberts “The Rats” with two sequels. On TV we have the British series called Doomwatch which had an episode called “Tomorrow the Rat “. However recent evidence has emerged that there is a new breed of Super Rat in the UK and it looks like it has some of the characteristics from these books.

The BBC recently ran an article in their magazine “Focus”. It is a very interesting magazine on the subject of science. The Rat has apparently grown in size to about double what they were. They have changed their diet to similar food that we humans eat nb they are eating more of our waste. They also breed faster that the old species. Various people are interviewed such as biologists and Rat Catchers. It is not a scientific paper but a light and frightening read.

Various points are made like resistance to poisons increasing. That as humans we live approximately 1.5 meters from one of these creatures.

The Rat is actually in an evolutionary sense a dangerous creature. Mildly intelligent, sociable carrying many diseases and very flexible in what it can eat. If you loo back far enough we had ancestors that probably looked more like mice than Rats and look at us now?

Evolution continues. There are two theories of evolution if you don’t treat Creationism as a real theory (the six days Genesis version). The first is the original Darwin theory whereby species change slowly over time. Changes give rise to different species which are more suited to the environment and you get the survival of the species. Then there is the second of global change to the environment wiping out the majority of the species, and rapid changes in the survivors. The classic example being the time when the Dinosaurs disappeared. Whatever. The Rats are evolving and we also have potential changes to the environment.

What would happen if something happened to the human species to make us not quite as strong as we are now. Look at Global Warming. Look at the conflict that we seem to be storing up with Islam, not to mention the wars that could brew up between China and the USA over say Oil? What about a Pandemic of some super Bug? Never mind the occasional Tsunami…

A combination of events over a couple of decades along with an economic crash could crush the Human race. In the very short term food supplies become problematic, fuel becomes rare, water is not where it is needed. Weather patterns make many areas uninhabitable. Disease and aging populations finish natures blows.

Lets imagine a future from now in 50-100 years. We have halved the population, the climate is less than suitable for holidays and the economy of the world has crushed us. Oil is running out, seriously running out. The population level starts to go into serious decline over the years.

This new super rat starts to become more aggressive. As humans decline the food supplies that the Rat gets from us also declines. Armed with teeth packs of rats start to actively hunt other animals. In the Countryside everything from Rabbits to Foxes are fair game. In the cities Cats and Dogs are in serious decline. Attacks against humans are very rare, but parents do not let their children out at night at all.

The creatures continue to grow larger. They outnumber us by at east ten to one. They roam the streets openly. Not attacking us, but we do not attack them either. We live almost in synergy. They do not contribute anything to this, we feed them from our waste and where we do not protect our food supplies. But the balance of power is clearly n the favour of the Rat. It has been so long since a Rat catcher was ever seen – killing them was a waste of time and they usually fought back when attacked.

Lets move another hundred years forward. People now ware protective clothes when travelling which they really do not like to do. The Human population has continued to decline. Things like cars are a remote memory. We use bicycles and horse and carriage now. We still have technology of course and wind power and solar power are fantastic. Our waste is now openly given to the Rat populations. When the Rats are well fed they don’t attack the humans except for the staring child or weak adult. With limited food supplies it has not become uncommon for a human to be sacrificed. Dead bodies are also left out for the Rat packs.

The Rats have continued to evolve. They are now one meter long. Bigger than most cats and dogs, not that anyone can really remember ever having pets. They are not intelligent as such, but their packs are organised. They have clear leaders. They can grunt basic indications of what they want. They move about openly and freely. Any human that attacks a Rat is dealt with and eaten. This is about the only thing that causes an attack, unless a human is waiting in the feeding area.

Humans don’t keep livestock in the countryside anymore. Such animals are hunted and are now long gone. Humans eat food grown in the ground. This of course means that our diets are not as wholesome as they were, which just adds to our decline. As individuals we don’t live as long as we once did – an old human is one at sixty now. We are very much smaller than we were. One and a half meters on average. And of course there are a lot less than of us around. Now the world population is about two hundred million.

While we are not prisoners in our own homes we do not go out very often except to work. The vast majority of us work in agriculture. When we get home at night we do not go out, it is basically not very safe out and about. The Rats don’t like feral humans walking about, they prefer us to stay in at night.

As time goes by the Rats get more assertive. They don’t develop a language but they are clearly intelligent. As time goes by our technology drifts into memory. We do everything locally for ourselves from making our own clothes to growing our own food. Life gets more basic. We continue to become slightly smaller and die younger. The main reason for death is that we have become part of the diet for the Rats.

No one really remembers when the balance totally slips into the Rats favour. When we really stopped living independent lives. Males get eaten when they are teenagers after they have been used for a few years to bread. Of course for some reason we now give birth to a lot more females than males. No reason why except it makes us a species much more attractive to the Rats. It just seamed to evolve that way. Females almost never ever get eaten as long as they are of child bearing age. About half of our females get eaten as young girls and about half are allowed to live to adulthood. We all continue to work in the fields growing the food. Off course about two thirds of what we grow gets eaten by the Rats. Clothes are just simple rags wrapped around ourselves. No new tools ever get made we just make do with what we have and can repair.

The Rats moved into our buildings many years ago. We all live under one roof now. They allow us to build more homes and we still talk of the good old days. The Rats don’t talk or at least we are not aware of them talking. But through pointing and grunting they make their wishes clear. Food has a certain sound to the grunt. Move is pointing.

Humans are still the more intelligent of the two species. But intelligence means recognising the easiest way to live. Okay part of the easy way means that some of us get eaten but the majority of us live relatively okay lives. Off course things like school and education are just long distant memories

Sounds like total fiction and it is of course. But then this planet was once inhabited by huge reptiles…

There was once a book called “Monkey Planet” by Pierre Boulle. AKA the film “Planet of the Apes”. Very different stories apart from the basic premise. The book had a very important message in it. I read the English translation of the French Text. The plot has a human spaceman landing on a planet with a society of intelligent Apes with the technology of the humans in the early part of the twentieth century. He starts of in the Zoo but soon learns their language and turns into a media start. The humans are of course the dumb animals. But during the story we get talked to by ancient humans from the past through race memories, who talk us through the time when the Human race on this planet equal in all ways to us, take Apes as pets. They evolve language and speech while the humans just give up in terms of drive. Slowly over the years the Apes simply take over and the humans find themselves in the cages and getting hunted. The Book of course carries the message that if as a species we loose that killing emotional edge then we will have the tables turned on us. I always thought that the book was referring to Nazi Germany where people almost lined up to go to the concentration camps. But we digress.

The message is very real.

So possible disaster ahead re the world eco system where we rule just now. Small dangerous rodent evolving very fast and living very close to us. Add a decline for humanity, raise the rats a little to take evolutionary advantage…



Links

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/james-herbert/rats.htm The Rats by James Herbert
http://www.clivebanks.co.uk/Doomwatch/Tomorrowrat.htm Doomwatch episode about Rats
http://www.focusmag.co.uk/ Focus Magazine
http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/popfr/boullep1.htm Monkey Planet