A common hooded fancy rat

The fancy rat is a domesticated brown rat (Rattus norvegicus), which is the most common type of pet rat.^[1] The name fancy rat derives from the idea of animal fancy or the phrase "to fancy" (to like, or appreciate).^[2]

Pet rats have their origins as the targets for blood sport in 18th and 19th century Europe. Specially bred as pets since then, fancy rats now come in a wide variety of colours and coat types and there exists several rat fancy groups worldwide. Fancy rats are commonly sold as pets in stores and by breeders. In fiction, pet brown rats tend to be depicted as tamed rather than domesticated, akin to when a character befriends a wolf. As tamed pets, they have been portrayed in roles that vary from evil, to ambiguous to lovable.^[3]

Domesticated rats are physiologically and psychologically different from their wild relatives, and—when acquired from reliable sources (such as a breeder)—they pose no more of a health risk than other common pets.^[4] For example, domesticated brown rats are not considered a plague threat,^[5] though exposure to wild rat populations could introduce pathogens like Salmonella into the home.^[6] Fancy rats experience different health risks than their wild counterparts, and as such, are less likely to succumb to the same illnesses as wild rats.

History[link]

The bloody sport of rat-baiting is an unlikely antecedent for the practice of keeping rats as pets.

Jack Black made his living not only from catching rats, but also from selling them for use in baiting.

The origin of the modern fancy rat begins with the rat-catchers of the 18th and 19th centuries who trapped rats throughout Europe.^[1] These rat-catchers would then either kill the rats, or, more likely, sell the rats to be used in bloodsport.^[7] Rat-baiting was a popular sport until the beginning of the 20th century; it involved filling a pit with several rats and then placing bets on how long it would take a terrier to kill them all. It is believed that both rat-catchers and sportsmen began to keep certain, odd-colored rats during the height of the sport—eventually breeding them, and then selling them as pets.^[1][8] The two men thought to have formed the basis of rat fancy are Jack Black, rat-catcher to Queen Victoria, and Jimmy Shaw, manager of one of the largest sporting public houses in London. These two men are responsible for beginning many of the color varieties present today.^[1][9] Black, specifically, was known for taming the “prettier” rats of unusual color, decorating them with ribbons, and selling them as pets. It was not uncommon in upper circles of Victorian England to see a lady with her pet rat on a short monkey leash, sitting on her lap, grandly festooned with ribbons.^{[citation needed]}

Rat fancy as a formal, organized hobby began when a woman named Mary Douglas asked for permission to bring her pet rats to an exhibition of the National Mouse Club at the Aylesbury Town Show in England on October 24, 1901. Her black and white hooded rat won "Best in Show," and ignited interest in the area. After Douglas's death in 1921, rat fancy soon began to fall back out of fashion. The original hobby formally lasted from 1912 to 1929 or 1931, as part of the National Mouse and Rat Club, at which point Rat was dropped from the name returning it to the original National Mouse Club. The hobby was revived in 1976 with the formation of the English National Fancy Rat Society (NFRS).^[1][9] Pet rats are now commonly available in stores and from breeders, and there exist several rat fancy groups worldwide.

Differences from wild rats[link]

While domesticated rats are not so far removed from their wild counterparts as to justify a distinct subspecies (compare Canis lupus familiaris and Capra aegagrus hircus), there are several significant differences that set them apart, the most apparent of which is colouring. While random colour mutations may occur in the wild, these are rare—most wild R. norvegicus are a dark brown colour, but fancy rats may be anything from white to blue.^[10]

Behaviourally, domesticated pet rats are tamer than those in the wild.^[11] They are more comfortable around humans, known to seek out their owners while roaming freely. Fancy rats have decreased reactions to light and sound, are less wary of new foods, and have better tolerance to overcrowding. They are shown to mate earlier, more readily, and for a longer period of time over their lifespan.^[12] Also, domesticated rats exhibit different behaviours when fighting with each other; while wild rats almost always flee a lost battle, caged rats spend protracted amounts of time in a belly-up or boxing position.^[13] These behavioural traits are thought to be products of environment as opposed to genetics. However, it is also accepted that there are certain underlying biological reasons for why some members of a wild species are more receptive to domestication than others, and that these differences are then passed down to offspring (compare Domesticated silver fox).^[12][14]

Domesticated rats have a longer lifespan than that of wild rats. Because domesticated rats are protected from predators and have ready access to food, water, shelter, and medical care, their average lifespan is around 2 years, in contrast to wild R. norvegicus, which average a lifespan of less than one year.^[15] However, wild rats generally have larger brains, hearts, livers, kidneys, and adrenal glands than laboratory rats.^[12] The fancy rat and wild rat also both face a multitude of differing health concerns—the former is at risk of developing a pneumococcal infection from exposure to humans, while the latter may harbour tapeworms after coming in contact with carriers like cockroaches and fleas.^[16]

Social Behavior[link]

Contrary to general belief, rats are social animals, gaining much enjoyment and stimulation from each other's company. They live in large family groups in the wild, so in captivity they live a more natural life if kept in pairs or more.^[17] This applies to both groups of males and females. However, rats are territorial animals, meaning that they usually act aggressively or scared of strange rats. Rats will fluff up their hair, hiss, squeal, and move their tails around when defending their territory.^[18] Particularly with males, there can be some fighting in the beginning, but once an alpha male rat has been determined, the rats should get along well.^[19] By a week or two, the rats will most likely have adjusted and become friendlier with each other. Therefore, it is recommended to potential owners to buy pet rats in pairs and small groups of 3 or 4. A group of rats can develop more complex social relationships with multiple rats^[17] . Rats will chase each other, groom each other, sleep in group nests, wrestle with each other, have dominance squabbles, communicate, and play in various other ways with each other.^[18] While humans can offer some social contact, owners are no replacement for contact with members of their own species. In groups, rats can experience more full and varied lives that single rats cannot enjoy.^[17]

Varieties[link]

The American Blue is one of several standardized coat colours.

As in other pet species, a variety of colours, coat types, and other features that do not appear in the wild have either been developed, or have appeared spontaneously. Any individual rat may be defined one or more ways by its colour, coat, marking, and non-standard body type. This allows for very specific classifications such as a ruby-eyed cinnamon berkshire rex dumbo.^[2]

Colouring[link]

While some pet rats retain the "agouti" colouring of the wild brown rat (three tones on the same hair), others may be black based colours (a single colour on each hair). Agouti based colours include agouti, cinnamon, and fawn. Black based colours include black, beige, and chocolate.^[20] Additionally, eye-colour is considered a subset of colouring, and coat-colour definitions often include standards for the eyes as many genes which control eye colour will also affect the coat colour. The American Fancy Rat and Mouse Association (AFRMA), a United States-based club, lists black, pink, ruby, and odd-eyed (two different coloured eyes) as possible eye-colours depending on the variety of rat shown.^[21] Ruby refers to eyes which at a glance appear black; but which are on closer observation, a deep, dark red. Colour names can vary for more vague varieties, like lilac and fawn,^[20] while the interpretations of standards can fluctuate between (and even within) different countries or clubs.^[21][22][23]

Markings[link]

Himalayan rats have a unique color and marking variation.

Further dividing the varieties of fancy rats are the many different markings. Pet rats can appear in any combination of colour and marking. The markings are typically in reference to the patterns and ratios of coloured hair versus white hair. Two extremes would be a self (completely solid, non-white colour) and a Himalayan (completely white with a gradual blend of colouring toward its nose and feet—called "points", as in a Siamese cat's markings).^[24]

Markings have a strict standard for showing in fancy pet rat shows. For example, in the case of hooded rats, the stripe or "saddle" should be a single, unbroken line that runs down the spine and possibly partly down the tail.^[23] However, many domestic rats are not bred to a color standard such as those found in pet shops, and as such, will have "mismarkings", which are defined as variations in markings that are not recognized as "standard" by rat fancy clubs.

Commonly recognized standards include:

• Berkshire – coloured top, white belly
• Hooded – colour runs from full head down spine
• Capped – colour on full head only
• Variegated – a blaze, or short white strip on the forehead, with a fully coloured head and splotches or flecks of colour run down the back only
• Irish or English Irish – In England the Irish is standardized by the NFRS as an equilateral triangle of white with a side that begins at the chest, or between the front legs, and where the point ends mid length.^[23] In the United States and elsewhere, clubs like the AFRMA distinguish this marking as the English Irish and allow for another standard Irish in which the rat may have white of an even or symmetrical nature anywhere along its underside.^[21][25]

Other marking varieties include Dalmatian-like spotting, blazes, masks, and Siamese (typically a gradient of colour along the body, darkest at the base of the tail and nose as in Siamese cats), and "downunders" (an Australian variety which has a solid colour stripe on the belly or a colour marking that corresponds to markings on top).^[26]

Body types[link]

A male "Dumbo" rat, a variety with ears placed lower on the head. Named for resemblance to Dumbo the elephant.

Two of the most prominent (and thus standardized) physical changes applied to rats through selective breeding are the development of the Manx and Dumbo. The Dumbo, whose origins are in the United States, is characterized by having large, low, round ears on the sides of its head, while the Manx rat shares both its name and mutation with tailless Manx cats.^[21]

Coat types[link]

There is a relatively small variety of coats in relation to the number of colours and markings, and not all are internationally standardized. The most common type is the Normal or "Standard," which is allowed variance in coarseness between the sexes; males have a coarse, thick, rough coat, while females' coats are softer and finer.^[21][23] Other standardized coats include: Rex, in which all the hairs are curly, even the whiskers; Velveteen, a softer variation on the Rex; Satin or Silky coats, which are extra soft and fine with a sheen; and Harley, characterized by whispy long straight hairs.^[21][23][27] Remaining coat types are not defined by the hair itself, but rather by the lack of it, such as hairless rats.

Hairless rats[link]

Even though this rat is hairless, pigmentation indicates that it is a hooded rat.

Hairless rats are a coat variety characterized by varying levels of hair loss. Hairless rats, bred from curly-coated Rexes, range from having areas of very short fur to being completely bare. Hairless rats are genetically produced by breeding different combinations of the genes that cause Rex coats. Since Rex is a dominant trait, there only needs to be one Rex parent to produce curly Rex-coated offspring. However, when two copies of the trait are present, by breeding two Rexes together, the coat is affected differently—causing hairlessness, and earning the colloquial name, "Double-rex". One subset of semi-hairless rats, Patchwork rats, constantly lose hair and regrow it in different "patches" several times throughout their life.^[21][23]

Ethics of selective breeding[link]

There is controversy among rat fanciers in regard to selective breeding.^[28][29] On one hand, breeding rats to "conform" to a specific standard or to develop a new one is a large part of what the fancy was founded on. On the other hand, the process results in many rats who do not "conform", and are then either given away, sold as food, or killed—referred to as culling. Additionally, there are concerns as to whether or not breeding hairless and tailless rats is ethical. The tail is vital for rats' balance and for adjusting body temperature. Tailless rats have greater risk of dying, poor bowel and bladder control, falling from heights, and can be at risk for life-threatening deformities in the pelvic region like hind leg paralysis and megacolon.^[30] Similarly, hairless rats are less protected from scratches and the cold without their coat. Groups such as the NFRS prohibit the showing of these varieties at their events and forbid advertisement through affiliated services.^[31]

Accessibility[link]

Because R. norvegicus and related species are seen as pests, their intentional import into foreign countries is often regulated. For example, the importation of foreign rodents is prohibited in Australia,^[32] and so various coat types, colours, and varieties have been bred separately from foreign lines, or are just not obtainable within that country. In other areas, like the Canadian province of Alberta, which is considered rat-free,^[33] the ownership of domestic fancy rats outside of schools, laboratories, and zoos is illegal.^[33]

Health[link]

Fancy rats of both sexes commonly develop mammary tumours as they age. These are usually benign, but multiple tumours can persist even after removal.^[34]

Human-raised R. norvegicus are more prone to specific health risks and diseases than their wild counterparts, but they are also far less likely to succumb to certain illnesses that are prevalent in the wild. The major considerations for susceptibility include exposure, living conditions, and diet.

Rats that live their entire lives indoors usually are able to avoid disease-causing bacteria such as Salmonella and Pseudomonas aeruginosa; the latter is absent in treated water. They may also more easily avoid vectors like cockroaches, beetles, and fleas who are essential for the spread of endemic typhus and intestinal parasites like the Rat tapeworm.^[35][36] Additionally, pet or laboratory rats enjoy the intrinsic benefits of having a consistent and well-balanced diet, along with access to medical care.

While living indoors decreases the risk of contracting certain diseases, living in close quarters with other rats, being unable to always seek proper protection from environmental factors (e.g. temperature, humidity, drafts), being fed an unhealthy diet, and the stresses inherently associated with living in an unnatural habitat can all adversely affect a rat's health to make them more prone to specific conditions.^[35][37][38] Specifically, Tyzzer's disease, protozoic infections (e.g. Giardia muris), and pseudotuberculosis are usually seen in stressed or young rats.^[36][39] Additionally, pet rats are exposed to Streptococcus pneumoniae, a zoonotic disease caught from humans, not the same bacteria associated with strep throat. A human-associated fungus, Pneumocystis carinii (also found in almost all domesticated animals) is usually asymptomatic in the rat, unless the rat's immune system is compromised by illness. If this occurs the infection can develop into pneumonia.^[39]

Several diseases, like Rat Coronavirus Infection (RCI), Sendai virus, and Murine Respiratory Mycoplasmosis (MRM, Mycoplasma pulmonis), are prevalent simply because their highly contagious natures work in tandem with the way rats are kept in laboratories, pet stores, and by breeders.^[36][39] It should be noted, however, that MRM is far less likely to occur in laboratory rats than in those kept as pets.^[39]

Pet rats can also develop pituitary tumors if they are given high-calorie diets,^[34] and ringtail if they are placed in areas with low humidity, high temperatures, or drafts.^[40] Staphylococcus spp. are a mostly benign group of bacteria that commonly reside on the top of the skin, but cuts and scratches from social and hierarchal fighting can open up the pathways for them to cause ulcerative dermatitis.^[35]

Risks to owners[link]

Keeping rats as pets can come with the stigma that rats supposedly transmit dangerous diseases to their owners. One fear is that all rats carry plague, when in fact R. norvegicus is not among the list of species considered a threat.^[5] In 2004, an outbreak of salmonella in the United States was connected to people who owned pet rats;^[41] however it has been determined that a pet rat's initial exposure to salmonella, along with many other zoonotic rat-diseases, typically indicates exposure to wild rodent populations, either from an infestation in the owner's home, or from the pet's contaminated food, water, or bedding.^[6] Pet rats otherwise pose little threat for zoonotic disease, especially compared to other pets which go outside frequently or typically socialize with many other members of their species.

Fiction[link]

Samantha Martin, a professional animal trainer for films, commercials, and music videos, has claimed rats are one of the easiest animals to train due to their adaptability, intelligence, and focus.^[42] Rather than portraying pet brown rats as thoroughly domesticated, they are often cast as a wild brown rat which a character tames. An example of this is in the series of movies based on Ratman's Notebooks: 1971's Willard, the 1972 sequel Ben, and 2003's Willard. In these movies, the protagonist befriends the rats found in his home and builds up a close relationship, only to have it end tragically. While these movies generally emphasize the popular perception of malevolence^[43]—they kill people, cats, and ransack grocery stores—other wild rats who become pets are portrayed in more neutral to positive ways; the television show, House, shortly featured "Steve McQueen", the pet rat of the titular character,^[44] and the 2007 film, Ratatouille, is about a rat described by Roger Ebert as "earnest... lovable, determined, [and] gifted" who lives with a Parisian garbage boy.^[3] Tame rats used in religious ceremonies play a role in Lois McMaster Bujold's novel The Curse of Chalion. In many versions of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, the master and adoptive father of the turtles is Splinter, who was once the pet rat of ninja Hamato Yoshi and learned his martial arts skills by imitating his owner.

See also[link]

• American Fancy Rat and Mouse Association, US
• Experimental evolution
• List of fictional mice and rats
• National Fancy Rat Society, UK
• Rat agility
• Rat genome database
• Working rat

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Pet rats

• RodentFancy.com – A site maintained by the former head of the defunct Rat & Mouse Fanciers for Excellence (RMFE).
• Rat Behavior and Biology – A website with useful referenced articles that pertain to the scientific study of the domesticated Norway Rat.
• Rat Care – Pet rat care information particularly for beginners, including coverage of health, behavior, housing and introductions.
• Rat Guide - An online resource with information about fancy rat health and treatment of illness

Organizations[link]

• American Fancy Rat and Mouse Association (USA) (AFRMA)
• The National Fancy Rat Society (UK) (NFRS)
• Rat & Mouse Club of America (USA) (RMCA)

Look up fancy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Fancy may refer to:

Places[link]

• Fancy, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
• Fancy Farm, Kentucky, United States
• Fancy Gap, Virginia, United States

Other[link]

• Fancy (ship), the ship commanded by Henry Every during his career as a pirate
• Fancy cancel, postal cancellation that includes an artistic design
• Fancy dance, style of dance originally created by members of the Lakota peoples around the turn of the 20th century
• Fancy Dutch, Pennsylvania Germans who belonged to the Reformed and Lutheran churches
• Fancy (programming language), an object-oriented computer programming language
• Fancy (Bobbie Gentry album), 1970
• "Fancy" (Bobbie Gentry song), 1969
• Fancy (DVD), a DVD of live concert footage compiled from the Les Claypool's Fancy Band 2006 tour
• "Fancy" (Drake song), 2010
• Fancy (Idiot Flesh album), 1997
• Fancy (band), an early-mid 1970s pop group
• Fancy (singer) (born 1946), German Eurodance and Euro Disco artist
• Animal fancy, the hobby of showing domestic pets in conformation shows, primarily cats and dogs
• The Fancy, social photo sharing website and app

See also[link]

• Embellishment
• Limerence
• Romantic love

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Rats Temporal range: Early Pleistocene – Recent
The common brown rat (Rattus norvegicus)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Superfamily:	Muroidea
Family:	Muridae
Subfamily:	Murinae
Genus:	Rattus Fischer de Waldheim, 1803
Species
64 species
Synonyms
Stenomys Thomas, 1910

Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus. Many members of other rodent genera and families are also referred to as rats, and share many characteristics with true rats.

Rats are typically distinguished from mice by their size; rats are generally large muroid rodents, while mice are generally small muroid rodents. The muroid family is very large and complex, and the common terms rat and mouse are not taxonomically specific. Generally, when someone discovers a large muroid, its common name includes the term rat, while if it is small, the name includes the term mouse. Scientifically, the terms are not confined to members of the Rattus and Mus genera, for example, the pack rat and cotton mouse.

Species and description[link]

The best-known rat species are the black rat (Rattus rattus) and the brown rat (Rattus norvegicus). The group is generally known as the Old World rats or true rats, and originated in Asia. Rats are bigger than most Old World mice, which are their relatives, but seldom weigh over 500 grams (1.1 lb) in the wild.

The term "rat" is also used in the names of other small mammals which are not true rats. Examples include the North American pack rats, a number of species loosely called kangaroo rats, and others. Rats such as the bandicoot rat (Bandicota bengalensis) are murine rodents related to true rats, but are not members of the genus Rattus. Male rats are called bucks, unmated females are called does, pregnant or parent females are called dams, and infants are called kittens or pups. A group of rats is either referred to as a pack or a mischief.

A rat in a city street

Statue of a rat in Patan (Nepal)

The common species are opportunistic survivors and often live with and near humans; therefore, they are known as commensals. They may cause substantial food losses, especially in developing countries.^[1] However, the widely distributed and problematic commensal species of rats are a minority in this diverse genus. Many species of rats are island endemics and some have become endangered due to habitat loss or competition with the brown, black or Polynesian rat.

Wild rodents, including rats, can carry many different zoonotic pathogens, such as Leptospira, Toxoplasma gondii, and Campylobacter.^[2] The Black Death is traditionally believed to have been caused by the micro-organism Yersinia pestis, carried by the tropical rat flea (Xenopsylla cheopis) which preyed on black rats living in European cities during the epidemic outbreaks of the Middle Ages; these rats were used as transport hosts. Other zoonotic diseases linked to pest rodents include classical swine fever and foot-and-mouth disease.

The average lifespan of any given rat depends on which species is being discussed, but many only live about a year due to predation.

The black and brown rats diverged from other Old World rats during the beginning of the Pleistocene in the forests of Asia.

Pets[link]

A domesticated rat

Specially bred rats have been kept as pets at least since the late 19th century. Pet rats are typically variants of the species brown rat, but black rats and giant pouched rats are also known to be kept. Pet rats behave differently from their wild counterparts depending on how many generations they have been kept as pets.^[3] Pet rats do not pose any more of a health risk than pets such as cats or dogs.^[4] Tamed rats are generally friendly and can be taught to perform selected behaviors.

Subjects for scientific research[link]

A laboratory rat strain, known as a Zucker rat, is bred to be genetically prone to diabetes, the same metabolic disorder found among humans.

In 1895, Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts (United States) established a population of domestic albino brown rats to study the effects of diet and for other physiological studies. Over the years, rats have been used in many experimental studies, which have added to our understanding of genetics, diseases, the effects of drugs, and other topics that have provided a great benefit for the health and well-being of humankind. Laboratory rats have also proved valuable in psychological studies of learning and other mental processes (Barnett, 2002), as well as to understand group behavior and overcrowding (with the work of John B. Calhoun on behavioral sink). A 2007 study found rats to possess metacognition, a mental ability previously only documented in humans and some primates.^[5][6]

Domestic rats differ from wild rats in many ways. They are calmer and less likely to bite; they can tolerate greater crowding; they breed earlier and produce more offspring; and their brains, livers, kidneys, adrenal glands, and hearts are smaller (Barnett 2002).

Brown rats are often used as model organisms for scientific research. Since the publication of the rat genome sequence,^[7] and other advances, such as the creation of a rat SNP chip, and the production of knockout rats, the laboratory rat has become a useful genetic tool, although not as popular as mice. When it comes to conducting tests related to intelligence, learning, and drug abuse, rats are a popular choice due to their high intelligence, ingenuity, aggressiveness, and adaptability. Their psychology, in many ways, seems to be similar to humans. Entirely new breeds or "lines" of brown rats, such as the Wistar rat, have been bred for use in laboratories. Much of the genome of Rattus norvegicus has been sequenced.^[8]

Intelligence[link]

Because of the ability to learn, rats were early on investigated to see whether they may exhibit general intelligence like larger or more complex animals. A 1929 study did not find a g factor,^[9] nor did a 1990 work;^[10] a 1935 study^[11] did:

Robert Thorndike, for example, provided strong evidence for g in rats by the use of a variety of tests such as mazes, problem-solving tasks, and simple avoidance conditioning (Thorndike 1935). Performances tended to correlate across tasks, with stronger associations found between mazes and problem-solving than with simple avoidance tasks. Thorndike (1935) also reviewed a dozen earlier studies which also suggested that the highest correlations are found between more complex problem-solving tasks. However, it should be noted that there were other contemporary studies that found split or near zero-order correlation matrices for other populations of rats across cognitive batteries (see Royce 1950).

—^[12]

In 1993, Anderson measured rat performance and factor analysis produced a g, and also correlations with rat brain size^[13] (like in humans and primates). Locurto & Scanlon 1998,^[14] Matzel et al. 2003,^[15] Matzel et al. 2004,^[16] Kolata et al. 2009^[17] and Matzel et al. 2011^[18] replicated the factor (but did not investigate brain size); 2003 Locurto et al., 2006 Locurto et al. in contrast found their factor analysis giving 4 factors rather than 1.

Food[link]

Rat meat dishes in Yangshuo, Guangxi, China

Rat meat is a food that, while taboo^[19][20] in some cultures, is a dietary staple in others. Taboos include fears of disease or religious prohibition, but in many places, the high number of rats has led to their incorporation into the local diets.

In some cultures, rats are or have been limited as an acceptable form of food to a particular social or economic class. In the Mishmi culture of India, rats are essential to the traditional diet, as Mishmi women may eat no meat except fish, pork, wild birds and rats.^[21] Conversely, the Musahar community in north India has commercialised rat farming as an exotic delicacy.^[22] In the traditional cultures of the Hawaiians and the Polynesians, rat was an everyday food for commoners. When feasting, the Polynesian people of Rapa Nui could eat rat meat, but the king was not allowed to, due to the islanders' belief in his "state of sacredness" called tapu.^[23] In studying precontact archaeological sites in Hawaii, archaeologists have found the concentration of the remains of rats associated with commoner households accounted for three times the animal remains associated with elite households. The rat bones found in all sites are fragmented, burned and covered in carbonized material, indicating the rats were eaten as food. The greater occurrence of rat remains associated with commoner households may indicate the elites of precontact Hawaii did not consume them as a matter of status or taste.^[24]

Bandicoot rats are an important food source among some peoples in Southeast Asia, and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimated rat meat makes up half the locally produced meat consumed in Ghana, where cane rats are farmed and hunted for their meat. African slaves in the American South were known to hunt wood rats (among other animals) to supplement their food rations,^[25] and Aborigines along the coast in southern Queensland, Australia, regularly included rats in their diet.^[26]

Ricefield rats (Rattus argentiventer) have traditionally been used as food in rice-producing regions such as Valencia, as immortalized by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez in his novel Cañas y barro. Along with eel and local beans known as garrafons, rata de marjal is one of the main ingredients in traditional paella (later replaced by rabbit, chicken and seafood).^[27] Ricefield rats are also consumed in the Philippines, the Isaan region of Thailand, and Cambodia. In late 2008, Reuters reported the price of rat meat had quadrupled in Cambodia, creating a hardship for the poor who could no longer afford it. Cambodia exports about a metric ton of rats daily to Vietnam as food.^[28]

Elsewhere in the world, rat meat is considered diseased and unclean, socially unacceptable, or there are strong religious proscriptions against it. Islam and Kashrut traditions prohibit it, while both the Shipibo people of Peru and Sirionó people of Bolivia have cultural taboos against the eating of rats.^[29][30]

Rats are a common food item for snakes, both in the wild, and as pets. Captive-bred ball pythons, in particular, are fed a diet of mostly rats. Rats, as food items, are available from many suppliers individual snake owners, as well as to large reptile zoos. In Britain, the government in 2007 ruled out the feeding of any live mammal to another animal. The rule says the animal must be dead (frozen) then given to the animal to eat. The rule was put in to place mainly because of the pressure of the RSPCA and people who found it cruel.

Medicine[link]

Rats can serve as zoonotic vectors for certain pathogens and thus cause disease, such as Lassa fever, leptospirosis and Hantavirus infection. However the rat is almost never directly responsible for the pathogen. Though it is commonly believed that R. rattus is responsible for the outbreak of bubonic plague the European citizens are to blame. After throwing waste into the street the rats moved where it was easy to find food. The rat flea then spread the plague from there. It is estimated that as many, if not more rats died from the plague than people.

Odor detection[link]

Rats have a keen sense of smell and are easy to train. These characteristics have been employed, for example, by the APOPO Norwegian NGO, which trains rats (specifically African giant pouched rats) to detect landmines and diagnose tuberculosis through smell.^[31]

Culture[link]

Ancient Romans did not generally differentiate between rats and mice, instead referring to the former as mus maximus (big mouse) and the latter as mus minimus (little mouse).

On the Isle of Man (a dependency of the British Crown), there is a taboo against the word "rat".

Asian cultures[link]

The rat (sometimes referred to as a mouse) is the first of the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac. People born in this year are expected to possess qualities associated with rats, including creativity, intelligence, honesty, generosity, ambition, a quick temper and wastefulness. People born in a year of the rat are said to get along well with "monkeys" and "dragons", and to get along poorly with "horses".

The indigenous rats are allowed to run freely throughout the Karni Mata temple.

In Indian tradition, rats are seen as the vehicle of Ganesha, and a rat's statue is always found in a temple of Ganesh. In the northwestern Indian city of Deshnoke, the rats at the Karni Mata Temple are held to be destined for reincarnation as Sadhus (Hindu holy men). The attending priests feed milk and grain to the rats, of which the pilgrims also partake.

European cultures[link]

European associations with the rat are generally negative. For instance, "Rats!" is used as a substitute for various vulgar interjections in the English language. These associations do not draw, per se, from any biological or behavioral trait of the rat, but possibly from the association of rats (and fleas) with the 14th-century medieval plague called the Black Death. Rats are seen as vicious, unclean, parasitic animals that steal food and spread disease. However, some people in European cultures keep rats as pets and conversely find them to be tame, clean, intelligent, and playful.

Rats are often used in scientific experiments; animal rights activists allege the treatment of rats in this context is cruel. The term "lab rat" is used, typically in a self-effacing manner, to describe a person whose job function requires them to spend a majority of their work time engaged in bench-level research (i.e. a scientist or research assistant).

Terminology[link]

Rats are frequently blamed for damaging food supplies and other goods, or spreading disease. Their reputation has carried into common parlance: in the English language, "rat" is often an insult or is generally used to signify an unscrupulous character. Writer/director Preston Sturges created the humorous alias "Ratskywatsky" for a soldier who seduced, impregnated, and abandoned the heroine of his 1944 film, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek. It is a term (noun and verb) in criminal slang for an informant - "to rat on someone" is to betray them by informing the authorities of a crime or misdeed they committed. Describing a person as "rat-like" usually implies he or she is unattractive and suspicious.

Among unions, "rat" is a term for nonunion employers or breakers of union contracts, and this is why unions use inflatable rats.^[32]

Judeo-Christianity[link]

• In Leviticus 11:29, rats are prohibited as food.

Fiction[link]

Imperial Japan was depicted as a rat in a World War II United States Navy propaganda poster.

Depictions of rats in fiction are historically inaccurate and negative. The most common falsehood is the squeaking almost always heard in otherwise realistic portrayals (i.e. nonanthropomorphic). While the recordings may be of actual squeaking rats, the noise is uncommon - they may do so only if distressed, hurt, or annoyed. Normal vocalizations are very high-pitched, well outside the range of human hearing. Rats are also often cast in vicious and aggressive roles when in fact, their shyness helps keep them undiscovered for so long in an infested home.

The actual portrayals of rats vary from negative to positive with a majority in the negative and ambiguous.^[33] The rat plays a villain in several mouse societies; from Brian Jacques's Redwall and Robin Jarvis's The Deptford Mice, to the roles of Disney's Professor Ratigan and Kate DiCamillo's Roscuro and Botticelli. They have often been used as a mechanism in horror; being the titular evil in stories like The Rats or H.P. Lovecraft's The Rats in the Walls ^[33] and in films like Willard and Ben. Another terrifying use of rats is as a method of torture, for instance in Room 101 in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four or The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe.

Selfish helpfulness —those willing to help for a price— has also been attributed to fictional rats.^[33] Templeton, from E. B. White's Charlotte's Web, repeatedly reminds the other characters that he is only involved because it means more food for him, and the cellar-rat of John Masefield's The Midnight Folk requires bribery to be of any assistance.

By contrast, the rats appearing in the Doctor Dolittle books tend to be highly positive and likeable characters, many of whom tell their remarkable life stories in the Mouse and Rat Club established by the animal-loving doctor.

Some fictional works use rats as the main characters. Notable examples include the society created by O'Brien's Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, Doctor Rat, Rizzo the Rat from The Muppets, and animated films such as Pixar's Ratatouille. Mon oncle d'Amérique ("My American Uncle"), a 1980 French film, illustrates Henri Laborit's theories on evolutionary psychology and human behaviors by using short sequences in the storyline showing lab rat experiments.

In Harry Turtledove's science fiction novel Homeward Bound, humans unintentionally introduce rats to the ecology at the home world of an alien race which previously invaded Earth and introduced some of its own fauna into its environment. And A. Bertram Chandler pitted his space-bound protagonist, Commodore Grimes, against giant, intelligent rats who took over several stellar systems and enslaved their human inhabitants. "The Stainless Steel Rat" is nickname of the (human) protagonist of a series of humorous science fiction novels written by Harry Harrison.

The Pied Piper[link]

One of the oldest and most historic stories about rats is The Pied Piper of Hamelin, in which a rat-catcher leads away an infestation with enchanted music—the piper is later refused payment, so he in turn leads away the town's children. This tale, placed in Germany around the late 13th century, has inspired the realms of film, theatre, literature, and even opera. The subject of much research, some theories have intertwined the tale with events related to the Black Plague, in which black rats may have played an important role. Fictional works based on the tale that focus heavily on the rat aspect include Pratchett's The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents, and Belgian graphic novel Le Bal du Rat Mort (The Ball of the Dead Rat).

[edit] Taxonomy of Rattus

The genus Rattus is a member of the giant subfamily Murinae. Several other murine genera are sometimes considered part of Rattus: Lenothrix, Anonymomys, Sundamys, Kadarsanomys, Diplothrix, Margaretamys, Lenomys, Komodomys, Palawanomys, Bunomys, Nesoromys, Stenomys, Taeromys, Paruromys, Abditomys, Tryphomys, Limnomys, Tarsomys, Bullimus, Apomys, Millardia, Srilankamys, Niviventer, Maxomys, Leopoldamys, Berylmys, Mastomys, Myomys, Praomys, Hylomyscus, Heimyscus, Stochomys, Dephomys, and Aethomys.

The genus Rattus proper contains 64 extant species. A subgeneric breakdown of the species has been proposed, but does not include all species.

Species[link]

See also[link]

• List of fictional mice and rats
• Mouse
• Oriental rat flea
• Rat (zodiac)
• Rat-baiting
• Rat-catcher
• Working rat
• East Timor giant rat

References and notes[link]

Further reading[link]

• Barnett, S. Anthony (2002) The Story of Rats: Their Impact on Us, and Our Impact on Them, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW, 202 pages, ISBN 1-86508-519-7.
• Hendrickson, R. (1983) More Cunning than Man: A Complete History of the Rat and its Role in Civilization, Kensington Books. ISBN 1-57566-393-7.
• Jahn, G. C., P. Cox, S. Mak, and N. Chhorn (1999) "Farmer participatory research on rat management in Cambodia", In G. Singleton, L. Hinds, H. Leirs and Zhibin Zhang [Eds.] Ecologically-based rodent management ACIAR, Canberra. Ch. 17, pp. 358–371. ISBN 1-86320-262-5.
• Leung, LKP; Cox, Peter G.; Jahn, G. C.; Nugent, Robert (2002). "Evaluating rodent management with Cambodian rice farmers". Cambodian Journal of Agriculture 5: 21–26. 
• Matthews, I. (1898). Full Revelations of a Professional Rat-Catcher, after 25 Years’ Experience. 1st ed. Manchester: Friendly Societies Printing Co. ISBN 1-905124-64-3.
• Musser, G. G. and M. D. Carleton. 1993. "Family Muridae" in D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. "Mammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference", Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. pp. 501–755.
• Nowak, R. M. (1999) Walker's Mammals of the World Vol. 2. Johns Hopkins University Press, London.
• Sullivan, Robert (2004). Rats: A Year with New York's Most Unwanted Inhabitants. Granta Books, London.
• Sullivan, Robert (2005). Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants. Bloomsbury USA. ISBN 1-58234-477-9.

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Rats

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Rats

• High-Resolution Images of the Rat Brain
• National Bio Resource Project for the Rat in Japan
• Rat Behaviour and Biology
• Rat Genome Database
• Texts on Wikisource:
  • "Rat". New International Encyclopedia. 1905. 
  • Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Rat". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
  • "Rat". Encyclopedia Americana. 1920.