Stowaway; Book Review

Stowaway: The Disreputable Exploits of the Rat, Joe Shute, 2024. It’s all about rats! It came out in mid-2024 and for some reason I just had to read it. It turned out to be nuanced with a long history of human-rat interaction. Shute made the point that rats have a lot in common with humans, perhaps not the expected interpretation. What do rats eat? They are omnivorous, eating seeds, nuts, meat, fruit, and more—very similar to what humans eat. Rats get by in the wild, but benefit from humans who make this food available.

Chapter One: Devil’s Lapdog. Shute starts by introducing rats in the back alleys in England where Manchester terriers are especially bred for ratting. Of course, when rats are cornered, they will attack, meaning the dogs have to move quick (and still get bit). The initial attitude about rats: “They are rapacious, over-sexed, destructive, pestilent—hideous enough to justify spreading poison around our streets and homes and releasing a pair of hounds down an alley in pursuit of blood. … Rats, like many animals we brand as vermin, thrive as a direct result of the way we live and interact with the land” (p. 12).

They became more visible during Covid, because they were deprived of typical human food as people retreated to their homes. “Forced to seek out new feeding grounds, the starving rats went on the march” (p. 14).

In addition to wild brown and black rats, there are white laboratory rats, useful in part because of similar physiologies with human. Rats became associated with human plague, mainly by carrying fleas (although human fleas and lice probably are more likely causes). Expanding trade was a cause of plagues and rats were stowaways on ships. “Where humans have gone, rats have followed. … They exploit poor sanitation and housing” (p. 24). However, they do carry pathogens and cause diseases. They are also intelligent and tough.

Chapter Two: Rat Tails. Shute bought two rat infants (Molly and Ermintrude) to raise and experience their presence, ending up dedicating the book to them. Rat phobia can be rational (disease) and irrational (proximity to humans), as described by Darwin and David Attenborough. Shute’s pet rats were affectionate and groomed each other. “Rats are capable of empathy, altruism, regret, and possess impressive powers of memory as well as being able to judge the passage of time” (p. 38).

The earliest mammal fossils were rat-like from 145 million years ago. Archaeology supported the idea that rats attacked themselves to human activity and, as a result, spread around the world. Rats survived nuclear tests.

Chapter Three: Tunnels. An archaeological dig of a slaughterhouse found remains of black rats, a center of urban food trade and a rat bazaar. Slaughterhouses were known to dump leftover carcasses into the river. Rats are good swimmers.

Chapter 4: Ratopolis. The biology and ecology of rats has not been well researched. Big cities like New York and Paris are rat havens (note: Ratatouille was about a Parisian rat). Rat teeth are important to rat success and its powerful bite. A rat’s front incisors never stop growing, meaning they must keep gnawing. Shute noted: “There are not that many and we can live with them” (p. 88). Rats are found where human waste is abundant.

Baron Haussmann built a modern sewage system in Paris for Napoleon III. When Notre Dame caught fire in 2019, the rat colonies fled. There was a plague in Paris in 1920 around the “ragpickers.” Rats have their own neighborhoods which they will defend.

Chapter Five: Heroes and Villains. Rat facial expressions identify when they enjoy themselves or other emotions. They have trained rats to be bomb detectors because of the worldwide problem of land mines. The training takes about 9 months. Rats are a blight in Tanzania and other Africa countries. “They steal food, bite children in their sleep, attack poultry, and spread disease” (p. 122). It is estimated that rats cause 400 million infections in people annually (zoonotic disease that can leap from animals to humans).

Chapter Six: Quarry. Britain allowed cockfighting, bearbaiting, and ratting until 1835 when all were banned except ratting, where dogs fought against a pack of rats. Rats were identified as vectors for the plague (although more recent research indicates that human-to-human transmission is more common). The Vermin Repression Society was founded in 1919. Rats have staying power with nocturnal habits, shared networks, and secret burrows. They are also a food source for other animals.

Chapter Seven: Prey. Scientists identify rats as close human accomplices in destruction. Also, neither species is useful to other species. That includes farmers as well as city practitioners. Pesticides like DDT kill rats, but multiple other animals as well (including humans). DDT was identified by Rachel Carson as harmful. Cats can work to keep rats in check, but also take out birds and other small mammals.

Chapter Eight: Borders. White Canadians decimated the indigenous people of Alberta, farmed, raised cattle, then oil and gas. They claimed not to have any black or Norway rats (meaning non-indigenous—there are indigenous rats including muskrats). The building of the Canadian Pacific Railroad in the 1880s guaranteed rats would come. The first sighting was in 1913. The war on rats started in the 1950s, with poisons being the main focus. Of course, this meant poisoning a whole host of other animals. The result was few sightings—and the claim of being rat free.

Chapter Nine: Fancy. Rat fanciers note they need companionship. Beatrix Potter also had a pet albino rat called Samuel. There was a National Mouse Club in England beginning in 1895 (becoming the National Mouse and Rat Club in 1912.

Chapter Ten: Rat Island. On islands with thousands of seabirds, stowaway rats feed on chicks and eggs, devastating bird populations. There is also damage to sea life from human trash and toxins.

Chapter Eleven: Burrows. Self-preservation seems to be the first rule of nature—including rats. Shute discovered that when his own pet rat got frail the younger rats cared for her. “As we are currently embroiled in the world’s sixth mass extinction, the lesson learned from each previous event is that usually the apex predator in charge never emerges from the other side” (p. 255). (That would be us). The general attitude is rats have no redeeming qualities. Shute discovered “empathy, cooperation, mischief, fun, loyalty, and resilience” (p. 256).