The world's history through rats - Max G. Levy episode artwork

EPISODE · Aug 10, 2026 · 8 MIN

The world's history through rats - Max G. Levy

from TED-Ed · host TED-Ed

Trace the history of rats, from their emergence in Asia to how they became the most successful invasive species in the world.--Today, rats are often regarded as the most successful invasive species in the world. The most common species of rat scurried onto the scene roughly 1 to 3 million years ago in Asia. There, they craftily survived Earth’s most recent ice age, and eventually, began living around and with humans— though often at the mercy of human priorities. Max G. Levy traces the entangled history of human and rat.Lesson by Max G. Levy, directed by Denys Spolitak.Support Our Non-Profit Mission----------------------------------------------Support us on Patreon: http://bit.ly/TEDEdPatreonCheck out our merch: http://bit.ly/TEDEDShop----------------------------------------------Connect With Us----------------------------------------------Sign up for our newsletter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdNewsletterFollow us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/TEDEdFacebookFind us on Twitter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdTwitterPeep us on Instagram: http://bit.ly/TEDEdInstagram----------------------------------------------Keep Learning----------------------------------------------View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-history-of-the-world-according-to-rats-max-g-levyDig deeper with additional resources: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-history-of-the-world-according-to-rats-max-g-levy/digdeeperAnimator's website: https://vimeo.com/denysspolitak----------------------------------------------Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Vanessa Graulich, Vandana Gunwani, Abdulmohsin Almadi, AJ Lyon, Geoffrey Bultitude, Mi Mi, Thomas Rothert, Brian Elieson, Oge O, Weronika Falkowska, Nevin Spoljaric, Sid Chanpuriya, Anoop Varghese, David Yastremski, Noah Webb, Roberto Chena, Oliver Koo, Luke Pisano, Andrea Gordon, Aleksandar Donev, Nicole Klau Ibarra, Jesse Lira, Ezekiel Raui, Petr Vacek, Dennis, Olivia Fu, Kari Teffeau, Cindy Lai, Rajath Durgada Manjunath, Dan Nguyen, Chin Beng Tan, Tom Boman, Karen Warner, Iryna Panasiuk, Aaron Torres, Eric Braun, Sonja Worzewski, Michael Clement, Adam Berry, Ghaith Tarawneh, Nathan Milford, Tomas Beckett, Alice Ice, Eric Berman, Kurt Paolo Sevillano, Jennifer Heald, Megulo Abebe, isolwi, Kate Sem, and Ujjwal Dasu. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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