New York City rats display social packs and distinctive 'dialect,' study finds
Urban life appears to shape rat social behavior and communication in New York, with packs, food-sharing and city-specific squeaks.
A new study of New York City rats finds they are highly social, traveling in packs of up to 20 and coordinating each other’s foraging in the concrete jungle. Researchers say the behavior helps them survive in one of the world's most demanding urban environments, and they even sound distinctively local when they communicate.
The study tracked colonies of rattus norvegicus — the brown rat — over three weeks last July in Union Square Station, Central Park, and West 125th Street, using thermal cameras to map movements and ultrasonic microphones to eavesdrop on their vocalizations. The project’s co-author, Emily Mackevicius, a neuroscientist and co-founder of the Basis Research Institute of New York, said social living appears to be a key survival strategy for city-dwelling rats. “Being social helps them survive ... in some ways, you could call New York City an extreme environment,” Mackevicius noted.
The researchers documented that rat groups travel together, coordinate when to venture into new foraging spots, and even assist one another in locating food sources. In Harlem, one community-minded rat emitted an alarm-related call after discovering a trash bag filled with food, prompting nearby rats to converge on the curbside feast. “Inside of that trash bag it’s screaming for tens of seconds,” said co-author Ralph Peterson, a computational neuroscientist, suggesting the call could reflect both the density of resources and the need to mobilize others quickly.
In addition to social behavior, the team found a distinctive vocal pattern among Gotham rats. Peterson described a trademark squeak that researchers characterized as a city-specific dialect. “They speak this kind of characteristic twang. So effectively there’s this kind of like dialect if you will,” he said. The researchers emphasize that the “accent” is part of broader, city-adapted communication, not a simple curiosity. Mackevicius added that the findings illustrate a degree of sophistication in urban rats that aligns with prior work on how city life can shape the genetics and behavior of rodent populations.
Manhattan, unsurprisingly, has a high density of rat sightings, with researchers estimating about 200 rats per square mile in the borough. The new work builds on earlier genetic studies showing that urban life can leave marks on rat populations — with differences sometimes observed between “uptown” and “downtown” rats and even indications that Midtown rats have been inbred to some degree. The researchers stressed that their observations describe communication and social structure in the context of dense urban living and do not imply human equivalence, though they acknowledged a human-centric empathy for the city’s most persistent urban survivors.
The study’s scope and methods allowed for a nuanced look at how rat communities organize themselves in crowded environments. By combining thermal imaging with high-frequency audio capture, the team could infer social networks and collaborative foraging strategies that go beyond anecdotal observations. The biology of city-dwelling rats — from their genetic makeup to their behavioral plasticity — continues to attract interest from ecologists and neuroscientists who study how animals adapt to human-modified landscapes.
Overall, the researchers say the work reinforces a broader view of urban wildlife as complex, adaptable populations rather than merely pests. The findings suggest that rats’ social intelligence and communicative strategies help them exploit resources efficiently, navigate crowded streets, and survive in a metropolis that is as challenging for them as it is for the people who live there.
The study’s authors emphasized that their observations reflect actual behavior in live urban settings rather than controlled laboratory conditions. They cautioned that more work is needed to understand the full range of rat communication and how environmental pressures such as food availability, competition, and human activity influence social dynamics. Still, the team’s initial findings provide a compelling look at a side of New York City life that often escapes the public eye: a resilient, communicative, and surprisingly organized community of animals navigating the city’s public spaces.
As urban centers continue to grow, researchers say it will be important to monitor how city-dwelling wildlife adapts over time. The study on New York City rats adds to a growing body of evidence that city life shapes not only human culture but also the social and communicative habits of its smallest residents. The work underscores the need for integrated urban wildlife research that considers behavior, genetics, and environment in tandem.
