THE TRUE REASON WHY BROWN RATS' GENOME ADAPTED TO NEW YORK!

Soo, dear reader, a study (P) shows that New York's rats genome changed a lot "from the presumed ancestral range of brown rats in rural north east China [suggesting] a genetic component behind the adaptation of rats in response to human activity" (P).

More in detail, brown rats (aka Rattus norvegicus) have been able to conquer urban environments, like the Big Apple, and exploit human resources and by-products by mutating some of their "genes associated with metabolism, diet, organ morphogenesis and locomotory behavior" (P).

In the following cartoon, though, this dumb blog shows you the true reason why brown rats evolved in such a way.

A New York brown rat explains why it genetically adapted to the Big Apple (by @sciencemug)

[Rat pic by G. Scott Segler is under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license (source: WikiMedia Commons); adapted by @sciencemug]

Paper (P)

Harpak, A., Garud, N., Rosenberg, N.A., Petrov, D.A., Combs,  M., Pennings, P.S., and Munshi-South, J. (2020). Genetic Adaptation in New York City Rats | bioRxiv.