Chapter 2 Study Guide

By: Arianne Blank

Question 1

• How did the tarabagan help to distribute the plague throughout Europe?

“It is the only form of the plague in rodents that is pneumonic.”

Answer 1

• Question: How did the tarabagan help to distribute the plague throughout Europe?

• Answer: The tarabagan helped the plague spread through Europe by being trapped where it lived in the European Steppe. The hunters would trap and skin the tarabagans and sell them to merchants. If the animals were infected everyone who handled them was a subject to the plague. Then the merchants would sell them to people to make into clothes, hats, etc. Everyone who used it might contract the plague. Since the plague that the tarabagans carried was pneumonic once one person received it they could give it to someone else by simply breathing on them. This is how the tarabagan help to spread the plague throughout Europe.

Question 2

• Why is Y. Pestis such a successful killer?

• “Y. Pestis can also kill nearly anything put in front of it, including humans, rats, tarabagans, gerbils, squirrels, prairie dogs, camels, chickens, pigs, dogs, cats, and, according to one chronicler lions.”

Answer 2• Question: Why is Y. Pestis such a successful killer?

• Answer: Y. Pestis is a successful killer because it can adapt to a number of different climates. Also when the bacillus is in the flea it makes them sick and their throats swell up. Because of this, the flea is extremely hungry and aggressive. This is why Y. Pestis is such a successful killer.

Question 3

• What are Y. Pestis’s disadvantages?

Answer 3• Question: What are Y. Pestis’s disadvantages?

• Answer: Although Y. Pestis is very adaptable it can only survive under certain conditions. Some of the things that are necessary for Y. Pestis to live are, temperatures between 50-80 degrees Fahrenheit, humidity between 60-80%, and a living host. Also some animals can’t get the plague, and some humans are immune to it too. These are Y. Pestis’s disadvantages.

Question 4

• Why were the rats so aggressive at some times?

Answer 4• Question: What were the rats so aggressive at some times?

• Answer: Some of earth’s cycles can change the amount of food available to rodents. During the times that there is plenty of food there are more rodents born and soon the rodent population is very high. When this happened their food starts to run low and the rodents have to come into towns and cities to get food to survive. These rats are starving and will do anything to get their paws on food. This is what makes the rats so aggressive at some times.