Rat
Photo Source: National Institute On Drug Abuse

Rats, just the word sends shivers down the collective spines of many people. Somehow I think that rats are more of a scare to people that live in cities than those that live in the country. Maybe it is the fact that those people that live in the country are used to seeing different types of animals and even rodents in their everyday lives. When you see a rat in the city, you almost always think that it is extremely dirty and germ ridden and up to no good. While city rats can be seen from time to time in the streets, they usually hide. If construction happens to take place in a particular area, than many rats will come scurrying out from there and you really get an eyeful. I remember when there was a building being pulled down in New York City with the aim of putting up a newer one. Rats were everywhere. One huge rat walked out into traffic and he was so big that the cars actually stopped. He just stood there daring one of them to move, until he decided to go on his way. Rats have a short life span, the average rat lives about 3 years. The oldest recorded rat was named Rodney and it lived for 7 years and 4 months.

The wild rat or city rat is a dangerous creature. He has been known to bite people in their sleep. His teeth are very sharp and strong and he has to gnaw on things to whittle them down, because they grow so fast. That is one of the reasons you hear about rats chewing through wires and even cement in some cases and yet this behavior only touches on rat personalities. There are a lot of people that prize their rat pets. They claim that they are very loving and quite intelligent. They have even formed associations like the American Fancy Rat and Mouse Association known as AFRMA. Almost everyone is familiar with the dog shows, but did you know that there are rat shows? Pet rats consist of different breeds such as English Irish, Variegated, Hooded and many other types. There are six main types that AFRMA recognizes and they are Standard, Rex, Tailless, Hairless, Satin and Dumbo. Standard variety rats have short. smooth and glossy hair. Rex rats have curly hair and whiskers, Tailless rats have no tail and hairless rats have no hair, but I bet you already figured this out. Satin rats have a thinner, longer coat and lustrous sheen and finally Dumbo rats have larger ears.

The rat's tail is a very important tool to him. It gives him excellent balance and allows him to jump long distances. He can also walk up ropes, wrapping his tail around the rope. Rats are not known for great vision. They can see, but they really rely more on their hearing and sense of smell. Rats are weaned in about five weeks, some say four and if you don't take the males away from the mother, they will mate with her. A female rat will be in heat every four or five days. The average litter is 11 babies and females have about 6 litter per year. Now you know why there are so many rats in the world. Pet rats love people. The rat is a social animal to start with and will beg to be petted and nuzzle against a person. They can even learn their names and come when called. Rats can do tricks, sit up and perform many other tasks. It is amazing because they learn this in such a short life span.

So far it sounds as if rats are the greatest pets in the world, but if we look further, they do have some bad points. Rats chew and some rats might chew in places in your home that you won't appreciate. They have been known to chew things like clothing, the furniture and even the electrical wires running through the home. Another rat problem is the fact that they leave drops of urine when they walk. This is used to mark their territory. This sort of has a way of preventing company from coming over for dinner. Rats like to wrestle and you can use your hand to wrestle with him. If he gets over excited and nips a little to hard, you can squeak loudly, like a rat and pull your hand away. The rat will learn not to bite so hard, as I said they are very intelligent.

This may sound strange, but rats never forget. They say this about elephants, but once a rat learns a route he remembers it for the rest of his life. Rats are also very good at figuring things out. Rats love their families. When rats are playing, it has been found that they produce a chirping sound that is very similar to human laughter. Pet rats love people and will do things to get noticed so they will get picked up. So how strong does the bond between rat and human become? There have been many cases where rats that were given away pined themselves to death. The rat is a very clean creature, contrary to common belief and grooms itself, much as a cat would do.

I had read an article on the internet awhile ago that was written by a scientist that suggested that rat intelligence is akin to human intelligence. While I don't think that this is true, I do believe that rat intelligence has been under rated. It very well may be that rats are smarter than dogs. Here is a story I like. Scientists are always trying to figure out the best way to kill rats. One day they decided to find an island that had no rats and release a rat on it. The next step was to track and kill it. They figured they would learn some valuable lessons on the best way to destroy rats in other places. The plan didn't work very well. It took the scientists over 18 weeks to trap the rat and guess what? The rat was found on a different island. This rat should have been easy to catch. It had a radio collar around it's neck. It was set free on Motuhoropapa Island off the New Zealand coast. The rat set out for a different island after about 8 weeks and made the longest open ocean crossing ever made by a rodent.