According to Nautilus, urban rats are evolving resistance to poison faster than pest control can adapt. Anticoagulant rodenticides, the standard tool for decades, are becoming less effective as rat populations develop genetic mutations that reduce the toxins' impact. The pattern mirrors broader phenomena in insects and bacteria—evolution responding to selective pressure. As cities deploy the same poisons repeatedly, the most susceptible rats die off, leaving behind populations with natural resistance. It's a reminder that chemical controls, deployed at scale, inadvertently set up an arms race with biology itself.

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