Editing Brown rat (section)

====Faroe Islands====
The brown rat was first observed on the [[Faroe Islands]] in 1768. It is thought that the first individuals arrived on the southernmost island, [[Suðuroy]], via the wreck of a Norwegian ship that had stranded on the Scottish [[Isle of Lewis]] on its way from [[Trondheim]] to [[Dublin]]. The drifting wreck, carrying brown rats, drifted northwards until it reached the village of [[Hvalba]]. Dispersion afterwards appears to have been fast, including all of Suðuroy within a year. In 1769, they were observed in [[Tórshavn]] on the southern part of [[Streymoy]], and a decade later, in the villages in the northern part of this island.
From here, they crossed the strait and occupied [[Eysturoy]] during the years 1776 to 1779. In 1779, they reached [[Vagar]]. Whether the rats dispersed from the already established population in Suðuroy, or they were brought to the Faroe Islands with other ships is unknown. The Northern islands were invaded by the brown rat more than 100 years later, after Norwegians built and operated a whaling station in the village of [[Hvannasund]] on [[Borðoy]] from 1898 to 1920. From there, the brown rat spread to the neighbouring islands of [[Viðoy]] and [[Kunoy]].<ref name="Jensen and Magnussen 2015">{{cite journal |last1=Jensen |first1=J.-K. |last2=Magnussen |first2=E. |year=2015 |title=Occurrence of fleas (Siphonaptera) and lice (Phthiraptera) on Brown rats (''Rattus norvegicus'') on the Faroe Islands |journal=Norwegian Journal of Entomology |volume=62 |pages=154–159 |url=http://www.entomologi.no/journals/nje/2017-1/pdf/nje-64-no1-2017-22-27-jensen.pdf}}</ref> A recent genomic analysis reveals three independent introductions of the invasive brown rat to the Faroe Islands.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Puckett |first1=E.E. |last2=Magnussen |first2=E. |last3=Khlyap |first3=L.A. |last4=Strand |first4=T.M. |last5=Lundkvist |first5=Å. |last6=Munshi-South |first6=J. |name-list-style=amp |title=Genomic analyses reveal three independent introductions of the invasive brown rat (''Rattus norvegicus'') to the Faroe Islands |journal=Heredity |date=2020 |volume=124 |issue=1 |pages=15–27 |doi=10.1038/s41437-019-0255-6 |pmid=31399718 |pmc=6906366 |bibcode=2020Hered.124...15P |s2cid=199512255}}</ref>

Today the brown rat is found on seven of the eighteen Faroese islands, and is common in and around human habitations as well as in the wild. Although the brown rat is now common on all of the largest Faroese islands, only sparse information on the population is available in the literature. An investigation for infection with the [[spirochaete]] ''[[Leptospira interrogans]]'' did not find any infected animals, suggesting that ''Leptospira'' prevalence rates on the Faroe Islands may be among the lowest recorded worldwide.<ref name="Jensen and Magnussen 2015b">{{cite journal|last1=Jensen|first1=P.M. |last2=Magnussen|first2=E. |year=2015 |title=Is it too cold for ''Leptospira {{as written|interr|rogans'' [sic]}} transmission on the Faroese Islands? |name-list-style=amp |journal=Infectious Diseases |volume=48 |issue=2|pages=156–160 |doi=10.3109/23744235.2015.1092579 |pmid=26442766 |s2cid=20516399}}</ref>