The epidemics which had hit Europe in the form of plagues in the mid-14th century may not have because black rats. Scientists now suggest that the culprit might have been Gerbils from Asia. Scientists believe that if they are right than they will have to rewrite history. The theory is part of the study in the proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Known as “The Black Death”, it arrived in Europe in 1347 and caused an unprecedented number of deaths. The epidemic is known to be the deadliest in human history. This was just a start, the epidemic became a huge problem for the next 400 years and the casualty toll raised, the number was in the millions.

The previous notion of this epidemic was inclined to the belief that black rats were responsible for the plague which entered Europe. Scientists back then thought that fleas were the carrier of the plague when they jumped from infected rats to humans.

Scientists also believe that there is no correlation between plague and weather, this conclusion was given after comparing 7,711 historical plague outbreaks. Scientists believe that this would require warm summers, after having studied a broad spectrum of climatic indices, there seemed to be no correlation. But the conclusion was not the same with specific weather conditions which created ideal conditions for the gerbil to flourish.

The 14th century was a time when there was heavy trade between the East and the West and the trade to now thought to be the reason on how the plague had spread.