Discovering The Truth Behind The Giant Rat Video In New York City

In June 2024, a startling video surfaced online, claiming to show a giant rat roaming a bodega in New York City. This sensational footage caught the attention of millions, sparking debates and discussions across social media platforms. The video quickly went viral, leading many to question the nature of the creature depicted and its implications for urban wildlife.

What initially appeared to be a straightforward case of a giant rat quickly transformed into a fascinating exploration of wildlife in urban environments. As experts weighed in, it became clear that the creature was not a rat at all, but rather an amphibious rodent. This revelation highlights the importance of fact-checking and understanding the true nature of wildlife, especially in bustling metropolitan areas.

What You Will Learn

The viral video of the alleged giant rat sparked widespread discussion and curiosity.
Experts confirmed that the creature was a muskrat or nutria, not a rat.
The incident illustrates the need for careful fact-checking in the age of social media.
Understanding urban wildlife can help dispel myths and misconceptions.

On June 12, 2024, an X user posted a video purportedly showing a giant rat on the loose in a New York City bodega. The caption read, “Rats in New York City are built different.” Similar posts appeared elsewhere on X in June, as well as on Facebook. The claim was also in numerous TikTok videos in September and October 2023. One Reddit user called the animal a “New Yorker Rat” in October 2023. Together, the posts had amassed more than 11 million views at the time of this writing.

However, although the video is genuine and the creature in the footage is unquestionably a rodent, four rodent experts told Snopes it is not a rat, which is why we have rated this claim and video as “Miscaptioned.” Kansas State University Associate Professor Adam Ahlers, who had researched muskrat populations, told Snopes via email the animal was a muskrat, an amphibious rodent. “That is a muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus). I’m 100 percent sure of this,” Ahlers said.

Likewise, Siena College Associate Professor Tom Giarla, who studied the evolutionary history of rodents, told Snopes via email it was “definitely not a rat (Rattus norvegicus).” He said the video quality made it difficult to be certain, but it could be a muskrat or, due to its whitish whiskers and large body size, a nutria—another amphibious rodent and an invasive species in North America.

Professor Jane Hurst of the University of Liverpool, who had also researched rodents, told Snopes via email: “This is not a brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) but looks like a muskrat from the tail which looks hairless and keeled in the video (Ondatra zibethicus).” Meanwhile, Steven Belmain, professor of ecology at the University of Greenwich’s Natural Resources Institute, told Snopes via email the creature “looks most like a muskrat.” However, he added, some people loosely define large rodents, such as muskrats, as “rats,” despite them not technically being rats.

Snopes also contacted the American Veterinary Medical Association, the United States Department for Agriculture, and other ecological experts for confirmation and will update this article if we receive responses.

Sources

Adam Ahlers, PhD. https://hnr.k-state.edu/about/people/faculty/ahlers-adam/. Accessed 12 June 2024.

Ahlers, Adam A., and Edward J. Heske. ‘Empirical Evidence for Declines in Muskrat Populations across the United States’. The Journal of Wildlife Management, vol. 81, no. 8, Nov. 2017, pp. 1408–16. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.21328.

Muskrat | Description, Habitat, Pictures, Tail, & Facts | Britannica. 30 May 2024, https://www.britannica.com/animal/muskrat.

Nutria | Description, Invasive Species, Muskrat, & Facts | Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/animal/nutria. Accessed 12 June 2024.

‘Thomas Giarla’. Siena College, https://www.siena.edu/faculty-and-staff/person/thomas-giarla/. Accessed 12 June 2024.