The Black Death - Fleas and Rats

 Hi everyone! Welcome to another post, today we are learned about how fleas and rats affected the black death during the middle ages. During the lesson, we learned about what fleas and rats carry around and how they infected the human with black death. After learning about fleas and rats we then did a task to learn more about rats and fleas. We did that by sorting out some characteristics of a rat and flea, then we made a diagram on how the disease was spread. Then we made a basic body paragraph about the fleas and rats during the black death. 

Rats in General	Black rats	Brown rats	Fleas
Two of the most common types are the black rat and brown rat.  Rodents, Rattus  Can feed on almost anything edible.  Tend to stay near people. Poison, gas and traps are ways of killing them.  Dig and burrow and are good swimmers.	Also called Roof and Climbing rats Jump as much as 200 times their body length. Weight about 450 grams	Also called Sewer or Wharf rats  Weigh up to 200 gram Commonly found in cities, especially seaports in upper storeys of house and buildings.  Do not rely so much on people.  Are heavy breeders. Fleas are less infectious.	Will often move from one host to another.  Feed on the blood of the host.  Lay eggs in the hair of animals, in dirt and rubbish.  Fleas are very infectious.  Can go without food for several months is necessary.

Basic Body Paragraph:

During the black death fleas and rats had a tremendous part in the cause of the black death. Rats were commonly seen during the Middle Ages, whether it be on the trading ships, homes, churches, farms and castles, they would often be seen there. Fleas and rats are dirty creatures and they come from gnarly places were filthy objects accumulated and these were seen everywhere. Because during the Middle Ages the environment was not clean, there were a lot of places that were full of people and people had very little knowledge about hygiene. The black death started when fleas suck the infected blood of the rat, after that, it would then jump to a human and it would vomit the infected blood on their host’s body, which would then start the domino effect of the black death. Because places were crowded the black death was spread in a few years of time. The black death was also spread because of the trading ships and cargo being shipped across the continent and these cargo/ships also had rats in it that had fleas inhabiting their body. Concluding my past statements rats and fleas were very dangerous beings during the black death and they were something that can cause a downfall of a nation.