"Cats accompanied sailors on ships where they were relied on to hunt rats and mice that were infesting ships’ holds," researchers wrote in a study published in American Antiquity last month.

domesticated brown rats may have spread by stowing away on ships used by admiral Zheng He during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). The expeditions involved tens of thousands of men and hundreds of ...

During a war, the rat populations of seaports and of ships always shoot up. House rats left their nests in basements and began to dig burrows in vacant lots and parks, particularly Central Park ...