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CONTENTS

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 * (Top)
 * 1 Species and description
 * 2 Rat tails
 * 3 As pets
 * 4 As subjects for scientific research
   Toggle As subjects for scientific research subsection
   * 4.1 General intelligence
 * 5 As food
 * 6 Working rats
 * 7 As pests
   Toggle As pests subsection
   * 7.1 In the spread of disease
 * 8 As invasive species
 * 9 Rat-free areas
 * 10 In culture
   Toggle In culture subsection
   * 10.1 Asian cultures
   * 10.2 European cultures
     * 10.2.1 Terminology
   * 10.3 Fiction
     * 10.3.1 The Pied Piper
 * 11 See also
 * 12 References
 * 13 Further reading
 * 14 External links

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RAT

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Several genera of rodents
For other uses, see Rat (disambiguation).
"Rats" redirects here. For "The Rats", see The Rats (disambiguation).



This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve
this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be
challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Rat" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September
2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message)



Rats Brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) Scientific classification Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Mirorder: Simplicidentata
Order: Rodentia

Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found
throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus
Rattus. Other rat genera include Neotoma (pack rats), Bandicota (bandicoot rats)
and Dipodomys (kangaroo rats).

Rats are typically distinguished from mice by their size. Usually the common
name of a large muroid rodent will include the word "rat", while a smaller
muroid's name will include "mouse". The common terms rat and mouse are not
taxonomically specific. There are 56 known species of rats in the world.[1]


SPECIES AND DESCRIPTION

A rat in a suburb of VancouverSkeleton of a black rat (Rattus rattus) on display
at the Museum of Osteology.

The best-known rat species are the black rat (Rattus rattus) and the brown rat
(Rattus norvegicus). This group, generally known as the Old World rats or true
rats, originated in Asia. Rats are bigger than most Old World mice, which are
their relatives, but seldom weigh over 500 grams (17+1⁄2 oz) in the wild.[2]

The term rat is also used in the names of other small mammals that are not true
rats. Examples include the North American pack rats (aka wood rats[3]) and a
number of species loosely called kangaroo rats.[3] Rats such as the bandicoot
rat (Bandicota bengalensis) are murine rodents related to true rats but are not
members of the genus Rattus.[4][5]

Male rats are called bucks; unmated females, does, pregnant or parent females,
dams; and infants, kittens or pups. A group of rats is referred to as a
mischief.[6]

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.[7] However, the widely distributed
and problematic commensal species of rats are a minority in this diverse genus.
Many species of rats are island endemics, some of which have become endangered
due to habitat loss or competition with the brown, black, or Polynesian rat.[8]

Wild rodents, including rats, can carry many different zoonotic pathogens, such
as Leptospira, Toxoplasma gondii, and Campylobacter.[9] The Black Death is
traditionally believed to have been caused by the microorganism 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. Another zoonotic disease linked to the
rat is foot-and-mouth disease.[10]

Rats become sexually mature at age 6 weeks, but reach social maturity at about 5
to 6 months of age. The average lifespan of rats varies by species, but many
only live about a year due to predation.[11]

The black and brown rats diverged from other Old World rats in the forests of
Asia during the beginning of the Pleistocene.[12]


RAT TAILS

A closeup of a rat tail

The characteristic long tail of most rodents is a feature that has been
extensively studied in various rat species models, which suggest three primary
functions of this structure: thermoregulation,[13] minor proprioception, and a
nocifensive-mediated degloving response.[14] Rodent tails—particularly in rat
models—have been implicated with a thermoregulation function that follows from
its anatomical construction. This particular tail morphology is evident across
the family Muridae, in contrast to the bushier tails of Sciuridae, the squirrel
family. The tail is hairless and thin skinned but highly vascularized, thus
allowing for efficient countercurrent heat exchange with the environment. The
high muscular and connective tissue densities of the tail, along with ample
muscle attachment sites along its plentiful caudal vertebrae, facilitate
specific proprioceptive senses to help orient the rodent in a three-dimensional
environment.[15] Murids have evolved a unique defense mechanism termed degloving
that allows for escape from predation through the loss of the outermost
integumentary layer on the tail. However, this mechanism is associated with
multiple pathologies that have been the subject of investigation.[citation
needed]

Microscopic cross section of Rattus rattus tail, delineating tendon bundles,
vasculature, and vertebral canal.

Multiple studies have explored the thermoregulatory capacity of rodent tails by
subjecting test organisms to varying levels of physical activity and quantifying
heat conduction via the animals' tails. One study demonstrated a significant
disparity in heat dissipation from a rat's tail relative to its abdomen.[16]
This observation was attributed to the higher proportion of vascularity in the
tail, as well as its higher surface-area-to-volume ratio, which directly relates
to heat's ability to dissipate via the skin. These findings were confirmed in a
separate study analyzing the relationships of heat storage and mechanical
efficiency in rodents that exercise in warm environments. In this study, the
tail was a focal point in measuring heat accumulation and modulation.[citation
needed]

On the other hand, the tail's ability to function as a proprioceptive sensor and
modulator has also been investigated. As aforementioned, the tail demonstrates a
high degree of muscularization and subsequent innervation that ostensibly
collaborate in orienting the organism.[17] Specifically, this is accomplished by
coordinated flexion and extension of tail muscles to produce slight shifts in
the organism's center of mass, orientation, etc., which ultimately assists it
with achieving a state of proprioceptive balance in its environment. Further
mechanobiological investigations of the constituent tendons in the tail of the
rat have identified multiple factors that influence how the organism navigates
its environment with this structure. A particular example is that of a study in
which the morphology of these tendons is explicated in detail.[18] Namely, cell
viability tests of tendons of the rat's tail demonstrate a higher proportion of
living fibroblasts that produce the collagen for these fibers. As in humans,
these tendons contain a high density of golgi tendon organs that help the animal
assess stretching of muscle in situ and adjust accordingly by relaying the
information to higher cortical areas associated with balance, proprioception,
and movement.[citation needed]

The characteristic tail of murids also displays a unique defense mechanism known
as degloving in which the outer layer of the integument can be detached in order
to facilitate the animal's escape from a predator. This evolutionary selective
pressure has persisted despite a multitude of pathologies that can manifest upon
shedding part of the tail and exposing more interior elements to the
environment.[19] Paramount among these are bacterial and viral infection, as the
high density of vascular tissue within the tail becomes exposed upon avulsion or
similar injury to the structure. The degloving response is a nocifensive
response, meaning that it occurs when the animal is subjected to acute pain,
such as when a predator snatches the organism by the tail.[citation needed]


AS PETS



Main article: Fancy rat
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 sometimes kept. Pet rats behave differently from
their wild counterparts depending on how many generations they have been kept as
pets.[20] Pet rats do not pose any more of a risk of zoonotic diseases than pets
such as cats or dogs.[21] Tamed rats are generally friendly and can be taught to
perform selected behaviors.

Selective breeding has brought about different color and marking varieties in
rats. Genetic mutations have also created different fur types, such as rex and
hairless. Congenital malformation in selective breeding have created the dumbo
rat, a popular pet choice due to their low, saucer-shaped ears.[22] A breeding
standard exists for rat fanciers wishing to breed and show their rat at a rat
show.[23]


AS SUBJECTS FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH



Main article: Laboratory rat
A laboratory rat strain, known as a Zucker rat, bred to be genetically prone to
diabetes, a metabolic disorder also found among humans.

In 1895, Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, established a population
of domestic albino brown rats to study the effects of diet and for other
physiological studies.[24] Over the years, rats have been used in many
experimental studies, adding to our understanding of genetics, diseases, the
effects of drugs, and other topics that have provided a great benefit for the
health and wellbeing of humankind.[25]

The aortic arches of the rat are among the most commonly studied in murine
models due to marked anatomical homology to the human cardiovascular system.[26]
Both rat and human aortic arches exhibit subsequent branching of the
brachiocephalic trunk, left common carotid artery, and left subclavian artery,
as well as geometrically similar, nonplanar curvature in the aortic
branches.[26] Aortic arches studied in rats exhibit abnormalities similar to
those of humans, including altered pulmonary arteries and double or absent
aortic arches.[27] Despite existing anatomical analogy in the inthrathoracic
position of the heart itself, the murine model of the heart and its structures
remains a valuable tool for studies of human cardiovascular conditions.[28]

The rat's larynx has been used in experimentations that involve inhalation
toxicity, allograft rejection, and irradiation responses. One experiment
described four features of the rat's larynx. The first being the location and
attachments of the thyroarytenoid muscle, the alar cricoarytenoid muscle, and
the superior cricoarytenoid muscle, the other of the newly named muscle that ran
from the arytenoid to a midline tubercle on the cricoid. The newly named muscles
were not seen in the human larynx. In addition, the location and configuration
of the laryngeal alar cartilage was described. The second feature was that the
way the newly named muscles appear to be familiar to those in the human larynx.
The third feature was that a clear understanding of how MEPs are distributed in
each of the laryngeal muscles was helpful in understanding the effects of
botulinum toxin injection. The MEPs in the posterior cricoarytenoid muscle,
lateral cricoarytenoid muscle, cricothyroid muscle, and superior cricoarytenoid
muscle were focused mostly at the midbelly. In addition, the medial
thyroarytenoid muscle were focused at the midbelly while the lateral
thyroarytenoid muscle MEPs were focused at the anterior third of the belly. The
fourth and final feature that was cleared up was how the MEPs were distributed
in the thyroarytenoid muscle.[29]

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).[30][31] A 2007 study found rats to possess metacognition, a mental
ability previously only documented in humans and some primates.[32][33]

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,[34] 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 seems in many ways similar to
that of humans.[35]

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.[36]


GENERAL INTELLIGENCE

Early studies found evidence both for and against measurable intelligence using
the "g factor" in rats.[37][38] Part of the difficulty of understanding animal
cognition, generally, is determining what to measure.[39] One aspect of
intelligence is the ability to learn, which can be measured using a maze like
the T-maze.[39] Experiments done in the 1920s showed that some rats performed
better than others in maze tests, and if these rats were selectively bred, their
offspring also performed better, suggesting that in rats an ability to learn was
heritable in some way.[39]


AS FOOD

Main article: Rat meat

Rat meat is a food that, while taboo in some cultures, is a dietary staple in
others.[40]


WORKING RATS

Main article: Working rat



Rats have been used as working animals. Tasks for working rats include the
sniffing of gunpowder residue, demining, acting and animal-assisted therapy.
Rats have a keen sense of smell and are easy to train. These characteristics
have been employed, for example, by the Belgian non-governmental organization
APOPO, which trains rats (specifically African giant pouched rats) to detect
landmines and diagnose tuberculosis through smell.[41]


AS PESTS



Rodent Bait Station, Chennai, India

Rats have long been considered deadly pests. Once considered a modern myth, the
rat flood in India occurs every fifty years, as armies of bamboo rats descend
upon rural areas and devour everything in their path.[42] Rats have long been
held up as the chief villain in the spread of the Bubonic Plague;[43] however,
recent studies show that rats alone could not account for the rapid spread of
the disease through Europe in the Middle Ages.[44] Still, the Centers for
Disease Control does list nearly a dozen diseases[45] directly linked to rats.

Most urban areas battle rat infestations. A 2015 study by the American Housing
Survey (AHS) found that eighteen percent of homes in Philadelphia showed
evidence of rodents. Boston, New York City, and Washington, D.C., also
demonstrated significant rodent infestations.[46] Indeed, rats in New York City
are famous for their size and prevalence. The urban legend that the rat
population in Manhattan equals that of its human population was definitively
refuted by Robert Sullivan in his book Rats but illustrates New Yorkers'
awareness of the presence, and on occasion boldness and cleverness, of the
rodents.[47] New York has specific regulations for eradicating rats; multifamily
residences and commercial businesses must use a specially trained and licensed
rat catcher.[48]

Chicago was declared the "rattiest city" in the US by the pest control company
Orkin in 2020, for the sixth consecutive time. It's followed by Los Angeles, New
York, Washington, DC, and San Francisco.[49] To help combat the problem, a
Chicago animal shelter has placed more than 1000 feral cats (sterilized and
vaccinated) outside of homes and businesses since 2012, where they hunt and
catch rats while also providing a deterrent simply by their presence.[50]

Rats have the ability to swim up sewer pipes into toilets.[51][52] Rats will
infest any area that provides shelter and easy access to sources of food and
water, including under sinks, near garbage, and inside walls or cabinets.[53]


IN THE SPREAD OF DISEASE

Rats can serve as zoonotic vectors for certain pathogens and thus spread
disease, such as bubonic plague, Lassa fever, leptospirosis, and Hantavirus
infection.[54] Researchers studying New York City wastewater have also cited
rats as the potential source of "cryptic" SARS-CoV-2 lineages, due to unknown
viral RNA fragments in sewage matching mutations previously shown to make
SARS-CoV-2 more adept at rodent-based transmission.[55]

Rats are also associated with human dermatitis because they are frequently
infested with blood feeding rodent mites such as the tropical rat mite
(Ornithonyssus bacoti) and spiny rat mite (Laelaps echidnina), which will
opportunistically bite and feed on humans,[56] where the condition is known as
rat mite dermatitis.[57]


AS INVASIVE SPECIES



Rat-catching, 1823, by Edwin Landseer, engraving, published by Hurst, Robinson &
Co.

When introduced into locations where rats previously did not exist, they can
wreak an enormous degree of environmental degradation. Rattus rattus, the black
rat, is considered to be one of the world's worst invasive species.[58] Also
known as the ship rat, it has been carried worldwide as a stowaway on seagoing
vessels for millennia and has usually accompanied men to any new area visited or
settled by human beings by sea. Rats first got to countries such as America and
Australia by stowing away on ships.[59] The similar species Rattus norvegicus,
the brown rat or wharf rat, has also been carried worldwide by ships in recent
centuries.[60]

The ship or wharf rat has contributed to the extinction of many species of
wildlife, including birds, small mammals, reptiles, invertebrates, and plants,
especially on islands. True rats are omnivorous, capable of eating a wide range
of plant and animal foods, and have a very high birth rate. When introduced to a
new area, they quickly reproduce to take advantage of the new food supply. In
particular, they prey on the eggs and young of forest birds, which on isolated
islands often have no other predators and thus have no fear of predators.[61]
Some experts believe that rats are to blame for between forty percent and sixty
percent of all seabird and reptile extinctions, with ninety percent of those
occurring on islands. Thus man has indirectly caused the extinction of many
species by accidentally introducing rats to new areas.[62]


RAT-FREE AREAS

Duration: 31 seconds.0:31Rat trapped in a cage

Rats are found in nearly all areas of Earth which are inhabited by human beings.
The only rat-free continent is Antarctica, which is too cold for rat survival
outdoors, and its lack of human habitation does not provide buildings to shelter
them from the weather. However, rats have been introduced to many of the islands
near Antarctica, and because of their destructive effect on native flora and
fauna, efforts to eradicate them are ongoing. In particular, Bird Island (just
off rat-infested South Georgia Island), where breeding seabirds could be badly
affected if rats were introduced, is subject to special measures and regularly
monitored for rat invasions.[63]

As part of island restoration, some islands' rat populations have been
eradicated to protect or restore the ecology. Hawadax Island, Alaska was
declared rat free after 229 years[64] and Campbell Island, New Zealand after
almost 200 years.[65][66] Breaksea Island in New Zealand was declared rat free
in 1988 after an eradication campaign based on a successful trial on the smaller
Hawea Island nearby.[67][68]

In January 2015, an international "Rat Team" set sail from the Falkland Islands
for the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich
Islands on board a ship carrying three helicopters and 100 tons of rat poison
with the objective of "reclaiming the island for its seabirds". Rats have wiped
out more than 90% of the seabirds on South Georgia, and the sponsors hope that
once the rats are gone, it will regain its former status as home to the greatest
concentration of seabirds in the world. The South Georgia Heritage Trust, which
organized the mission describes it as "five times larger than any other rodent
eradication attempted worldwide".[69] That would be true if it were not for the
rat control program in Alberta (see below).

The Canadian province of Alberta is notable for being the largest inhabited area
on Earth which is free of true rats due to very aggressive government rat
control policies. It has large numbers of native pack rats, also called
bushy-tailed wood rats, but they are forest-dwelling vegetarians which are much
less destructive than true rats.[70]

Alberta was settled by Europeans relatively late in North American history and
only became a province in 1905. Black rats cannot survive in its climate at all,
and brown rats must live near people and in their structures to survive the
winters. There are numerous predators in Canada's vast natural areas which will
eat non-native rats, so it took until 1950 for invading rats to make their way
over land from Eastern Canada.[71] Immediately upon their arrival at the eastern
border with Saskatchewan, the Alberta government implemented an extremely
aggressive rat control program to stop them from advancing further. A systematic
detection and eradication system was used throughout a control zone about 600
kilometres (400 mi) long and 30 kilometres (20 mi) wide along the eastern border
to eliminate rat infestations before the rats could spread further into the
province. Shotguns, bulldozers, high explosives, poison gas, and incendiaries
were used to destroy rats. Numerous farm buildings were destroyed in the
process. Initially, tons of arsenic trioxide were spread around thousands of
farm yards to poison rats, but soon after the program commenced the rodenticide
and medical drug warfarin was introduced, which is much safer for people and
more effective at killing rats than arsenic.[72]

Forceful government control measures, strong public support and enthusiastic
citizen participation continue to keep rat infestations to a minimum.[73] The
effectiveness has been aided by a similar but newer program in Saskatchewan
which prevents rats from even reaching the Alberta border. Alberta still employs
an armed rat patrol to control rats along Alberta's borders. About ten single
rats are found and killed per year, and occasionally a large localized
infestation has to be dug out with heavy machinery, but the number of permanent
rat infestations is zero.[74]


IN CULTURE

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).[75]

On the Isle of Man, there is a taboo against the word "rat".[76]


ASIAN CULTURES

Main article: Rat (zodiac)
Chinese zodiac pendant with 5 rats climbing ruyi, bat at top of pendant Two
mice, Vietnam Museum of Ethnology - Hanoi Chuột rước đèn (The mouse carries the
lamp), Vietnamese Đông Hồ painting

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".

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

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.
In 1522, the rats in Autun, France were charged and put on trial for destroying
crops.[77] 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 (such as postgraduate students in the sciences).

TERMINOLOGY

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; it is also used, as a synonym for the term nark, to mean
an individual who works as a police informant or who has turned state's
evidence. 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 trade unions, the word "rat" is also a term for nonunion employers or
breakers of union contracts, and this is why unions use inflatable rats.[78]


FICTION

See also: Fancy rat § Fiction
Imperial Japan 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.[79] 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[79] 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.[79] 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, and others
include Doctor Rat, and Rizzo the Rat from The Muppets. Pixar's 2007 animated
film Ratatouille is about a rat described by Roger Ebert as "earnest... lovable,
determined, [and] gifted" who lives with a Parisian garbage-boy-turned-chef.[80]

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. A. Bertram Chandler pitted the space-bound protagonist of a long
series of novels, 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.

Wererats, therianthropic creatures able to take the shape of a rat,[81] have
appeared in the fantasy or horror genre since the 1970s. The term is a neologism
coined in analogy to werewolf.[citation needed] The concept has since become
common in role playing games like Dungeons & Dragons[81][82][83] and fantasy
fiction like the Anita Blake series.[84]

THE PIED PIPER

Main article: Pied Piper of Hamelin

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.[85] The piper is later refused payment, so he in turn leads away the
town's children. This tale, traced to Germany around the late 13th century, has
inspired adaptations in 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 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). Furthermore, a linguistic phenomenon when a
wh-expression drags with it an entire encompassing phrase to the front of the
clause has been named pied-piping after "Pied Piper of Hamlin" (see also
pied-piping with inversion).


SEE ALSO

 * Chicago rat hole
 * List of fictional rodents
 * Rat-baiting
 * Rat king
 * Rodentology


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FURTHER READING

 * List of books and articles about rats, is a non-fiction list.
 * Smith, Robert (Rat-catcher) (1786) The universal directory for taking alive
   and destroying rats


EXTERNAL LINKS

Look up rat in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wikiquote has quotations related to Rats.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rats.
 * High-Resolution Images of the Rat Brain (archived 3 March 2016)
 * National Bio Resource Project for the Rat in Japan (archived 29 April 2005)
 * Rat Behaviour and Biology
 * Rat Genome Database
 * Texts on Wikisource:
   * "Rat". New International Encyclopedia. 1905.
   * "Rat". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
   * "Rat". Encyclopedia Americana. 1920.



show
 * v
 * t
 * e

Extant species of subfamily Murinae (Rattus)
 * Kingdom: Animalia
 * Phylum: Chordate
 * Class: Mammalia
 * Superorder: Euarchontoglires
 * Order: Rodentia
 * Family: Muridae

Abditomys
 * Luzon broad-toothed rat (A. latidens)

Bandicota
(Bandicoot rats)
 * Lesser bandicoot rat (B. bengalensis)
 * Greater bandicoot rat (B. indica)
 * Savile's bandicoot rat (B. savilei)

Berylmys
(White-toothed rats)
 * Small white-toothed rat (B. berdmorei)
 * Bower's white-toothed rat (B. bowersi)
 * Kenneth's white-toothed rat (B. mackenziei)
 * Manipur white-toothed rat (B. manipulus)

Bullimus
 * Bagobo rat (B. bagobus)
 * Camiguin forest rat (B. gamay)
 * Lagre Luzon forest rat (B. luzonicus)

Bunomys
 * Andrew's hill rat (B. andrewsi)
 * Yellow-haired hill rat (B. chrysocomus)
 * Heavenly hill rat (B. coelestis)
 * Fraternal hill rat (B. fratrorum)
 * Karoko hill rat (B. karokophilus)
 * Inland hill rat (B. penitus)
 * Long-headed hill rat (B. prolatus)
 * Tana Toraja hill rat (B. torajae)

Diplothrix
 * Ryukyu long-tailed giant rat (D. legatus)

Kadarsanomys
 * Sody's tree rat (K. sodyi)

Komodomys
 * Komodo rat (K. rintjanus)

Limnomys
 * Gray-bellied mountain rat (L. bryophilus)
 * Mindanao mountain rat (L. sibuanus)

Nesokia
 * Bunn's short-tailed bandicoot rat (N. bunnii)
 * Short-tailed bandicoot rat (N. indica)

Nesoromys
 * Ceram rat (N. ceramicus)

Palawanomys
 * Palawan soft-furred mountain rat (P. furvus)

Papagomys
 * Flores giant rat (P. armandvillei)

Paruromys
 * Sulawesi giant rat (P. dominator)

Paulamys
 * Flores long-nosed rat (P. naso)

Rattus
(Typical rats)

 * Enggano rat (R. enganus)
 * Philippine forest rat (R. everetti)
 * Polynesian rat (R. exulans)
 * Hainald's rat (R. hainaldi)
 * Hoogerwerf's rat (R. hoogerwerfi)
 * Korinch's rat (R. korinchi)
 * Nillu rat (R. montanus)
 * Molaccan prehensile-tailed rat (R. morotaiensis)
 * Kerala rat (R. ranjiniae)
 * New Ireland forest rat (R. sanila)
 * Andaman rat (R. stoicus)
 * Timor rat (R. timorensis)

 * R. norvegicus group: Himalayan field rat (R. nitidus)
 * Brown rat (R. norvegicus)
 * Turkestan rat (R. pyctoris)

 * R. rattus group: Sunburned rat (R. adustus)
 * Sikkim rat (R. andamanensis)
 * Ricefield rat (R. argentiventer)
 * Summit rat (R. baluensis)
 * Aceh rat (R. blangorum)
 * Nonsense rat (R. burrus)
 * Hoffmann's rat (R. hoffmanni)
 * Koopman's rat (R. koopmani)
 * Lesser ricefield rat (R. losea)
 * Mentawai rat (R. lugens)
 * Mindoro black rat (R. mindorensis)
 * Little soft-furred rat (R. mollicomulus)
 * Osgood's rat (R. osgoodi)
 * Palm rat (R. palmarum)
 * Black rat (R. rattus)
 * Sahyadris forest rat (R. satarae)
 * Simalur rat (R. simalurensis)
 * Tanezumi rat (R. tanezumi)
 * Tawitawi forest rat (R. tawitawiensis)
 * Malayan field rat (R. tiomanicus)

 * R. xanthurus group: Bonthain rat (R. bontanus)
 * Opossum rat (R. marmosurus)
 * Peleng rat (R. pelurus)
 * R. salocco
 * Yellow-tailed rat (R. xanthurus)

 * R. leucopus group: Vogelkop mountain rat (R. arfakiensis)
 * Western New Guinea mountain rat (R. arrogans)
 * Manus Island spiny rat (R. detentus)
 * Sula rat (R. elaphinus)
 * Spiny Ceram rat (R. feliceus)
 * Giluwe rat (R. giluwensis)
 * Japen rat (R. jobiensis)
 * Cape York rat (R. leucopus)
 * Eastern rat (R. mordax)
 * Moss-forest rat (R. niobe)
 * New Guinean rat (R. novaeguineae)
 * Arianus's rat (R. omichlodes)
 * Pocock's highland rat (R. pococki)
 * Spiny rat (R. praetor)
 * Glacier rat (R. richardsoni)
 * Stein's rat (R. steini)
 * Van Deusen's rat (R. vandeuseni)
 * Slender rat (R. verecundus)

 * R. fuscipes group: Dusky rat (R. colletti)
 * Bush rat (R. fuscipes)
 * Australian swamp rat (R. lutreolus)
 * Dusky field rat (R. sordidus)
 * Pale field rat (R. tunneyi)
 * Rattus villosissimus (R. villosissimus)


Sundamys
(Giant Sunda rats)
 * Annandale's rat (S. annandalei)
 * Mountain giant Sunda rat (S. infraluteus)
 * Bartels's rat (S. maxi)
 * Müller's giant Sunda rat (S. muelleri)

Taeromys
 * Salokko rat (T. arcuatus)
 * Lovely-haired rat (T. callitrichus)
 * Celebes rat (T. celebensis)
 * Sulawesi montane rat (T. hamatus)
 * Small-eared rat (T. microbullatus)
 * Sulawesi forest rat (T. punicans)
 * Tondano rat (T. taerae)

Tarsomys
 * Long-footed rat (T. apoensis)
 * Spiny long-footed rat (T. echinatus)
 * Kampalili moss mouse (T. orientalis)

Tryphomys
 * Luzon short-nosed rat (T. adustus)

See also Aethomys–Chrotomys Colomys–Golunda Hadromys–Maxomys Melasmothrix–Mus
Oenomys–Pithecheir Pogonomys–Pseudomys Stenocephalomys–Xeromys Otomys Others


Taxon identifiers
Rattus
 * Wikidata: Q36396
 * Wikispecies: Rattus
 * ADW: Rattus
 * AFD: Rattus
 * BioLib: 20619
 * BOLD: 3156
 * CoL: 63QK6
 * EoL: 42343
 * EPPO: 1RATTG
 * Fauna Europaea: 305698
 * Fauna Europaea (new): 43546787-59c2-48b9-8179-bad7e7352126
 * GBIF: 2439223
 * iNaturalist: 44540
 * ITIS: 180361
 * MSW: 13001727
 * NBN: NHMSYS0000376191
 * NCBI: 10114
 * NZOR: 15a069c6-ffbc-42da-a4d9-2d987bc6adf3
 * Open Tree of Life: 271578
 * Paleobiology Database: 41923
 * Plazi: 6502AA63-E05C-FFBC-19FD-FDDBFE284835
 * uBio: 4327163
 * WoRMS: 993633



Authority control databases: National
 * United States
 * France
 * BnF data
 * Israel

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rat&oldid=1242946805"
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