--- title: The Black Death May Have Been Caused By Gerbils, Not Rats description: "If we're right, we'll have to rewrite that part of history," a researcher said canonical: https://time.com/3720230/black-death-gerbils-rats/ author: Rachel Janik article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-24T15:38:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:05:26.082Z article:section: History og:title: The Black Death May Have Been Caused By a Different Rodent Than You Think og:description: "If we're right, we'll have to rewrite that part of history," a researcher said og:url: https://time.com/3720230/black-death-gerbils-rats/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Black Death May Have Been Caused By a Different Rodent Than You Think twitter:description: "If we're right, we'll have to rewrite that part of history," a researcher said twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # The Black Death May Have Been Caused By a Different Rodent Than You Think by [Rachel Janik](https://time.com/author/rachel-janik/) ## Rachel Janik Feb 24, 2015 3:38 PM UTC by [Rachel Janik](https://time.com/author/rachel-janik/) ## Rachel Janik Feb 24, 2015 3:38 PM UTC The black rat that has long been assumed as the carrier of the deadly bubonic plague may not responsible for the disease that killed about 25 million people in the 14th century, according to a new study. The report from the University of Oslo suggests instead that the culprit was likely an Asian rodent, the great gerbil, BBC reports. The Black Death infected Europe in waves, and for decades scientists believed its endurance was due to rodent “reservoirs” among the European black rats. When the climate in Europe was right, characterized by dry summers, the rat population would balloon and fleas would then pass the disease from rats to humans. New research suggests that these weather conditions were not met in Europe. But in Asia, where gerbils thrive during wet springs and warm summers, the climate was optimum for a major boom. Now scientists theorize that it was in fact the giant gerbils that carried the disease-ridden fleas. They infected humans, who then brought the plague back to Europe along trade routes and in harbor cities. The study appears in [_Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America_](http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2015/02/20/1412887112). “If we’re right, we’ll have to rewrite that part of history,” said Christian Stenseth, a professor a the University of Oslo. \[[_BBC_](http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-31588671)\] _Read next:_ [_How a Speech Helped Hitler Take Power_](http://time.com/3712734/1920-nazi-party-history/?xid=time%5Freadnext) ### A Squirrel's Guide to Fashion  This Year's Model Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Simple, Yet Elegant Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Sorry, Did You Say Something? 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Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article) The Black Death May Have Been Caused By Gerbils, Not Rats ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3720230/black-death-gerbils-rats/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3720230/black-death-gerbils-rats/"},"headline":"The Black Death May Have Been Caused By a Different Rodent Than You Think","datePublished":"2015-02-24T15:38:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:05:26.082Z","description":"\"If we're right, we'll have to rewrite that part of history,\" a researcher said","url":"https://time.com/3720230/black-death-gerbils-rats/","keywords":["health","rats"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rachel Janik","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rachel-janik/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/health/","name":"health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3720230/black-death-gerbils-rats/","name":"The Black Death May Have Been Caused By a Different Rodent Than You Think"}}]}] ```