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Rats are smart, clean, loving and are relatively disease free. In
many countries Rats are revered.
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The Rat is the first symbol of the Chinese Zodiac - A symbol of
cunning and prosperity.
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The ancient Mayan civilization used to worship the Rat, as did the
ancient Egyptians, and Ancient Romans considered the rat good luck.
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In India a Hindu temple was constructed as a tribute to the rat
goddess Karni Mata and is home to 20,000 rats.
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Rats are very clean. They spend hours every day carefully grooming
themselves and each other.
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Rats take care of the injured and sick in their groups.
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Rat teeth are strong enough to nibble through wood, lead piping,
brick, concrete, and metal.
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Rats can swim and many enjoy it. Rats can swim for 3 days.
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A rat could survive a fall off of a five story building.
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Rats survived on Eniwetok Atoll where the US tested atomic weapons
for years and were unaffected by the radiation.
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A 2007 University of Georgia study is the first that shows Rats,
a non-primate species has metacognition, meaning the rat knows when
it doesn't know something, pretty smart.
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A 2007 University of Berne study is the first evidence for general
reciprocal cooperation in non-humans. The rats would help other rats
they didn’t know. Perhaps they could give us a lesson.
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Gambian Rats have been trained to sniff out land mines.
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Rats can taste poison in food as low as 1 part per million.
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Rats will sample a new food and save the rest for later. If the rat
gets sick it will avoid the food. That’s why poisons don’t
work.
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Rats, with their long tail, have a very acute sense of balance. Therefore,
they are excellent climbers. Rat tails also are also used for temperature
regulation and communication.
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Rats have glands on the bottom of their feet, they leave a wet scent
trail wherever they walk, and use it to get back home.
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Rats have been sent into space aboard American, Chinese and Russian
spacecraft.
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Rats have starred or appeared in over 400 films and close to one
hundred television series.
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Rats can survive being flushed down a toilet (depending on the toilet...and
the rat of course)!
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Pet rats live an average of 2 to 3 years; wild rats about 1 year.
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Male rats are known as bucks, females are does, and babies are pups
or kittens. A group/pack/herd of rats is called a Mischief.
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Though generally nocturnal, most rats are crepuscular, which means
they are most active for a few hours around dusk and dawn, dividing
the rest of the day between hours of lesser activity and sleeping.
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Pet rats are typically disease and parasite free.
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Wild rats DO NOT carry the plague. When rats catch the plague, they
die from it. The plague is transmitted from animal to animal by fleas.
Today, the plague is treatable with antibiotics.
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Wild rats almost never carry rabies, and there has never been a case
of human rabies caused by rat bite in the United States. In 2006 18,000
people were treated for rabies, none from rats.
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Wild rats may carry a number of different diseases and parasites
but transmission to humans is rare and most are easily treated.
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According to the CDC Rat bites are estimated at 4000 per year in
the US with dog bites reported at 4.6 million. Rat bites accounted
for 200+ emergency room visits, most considered minor. Dog bites result
in an average of 17 human deaths, 6,000 hospitalizations, and 330,000
emergency room visits each year.
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In a three year study of animal attacks in Philadelphia a total of
6,293 animal bites were reported. Of these cases, 5,390 were dog related,
633 involved cats; 39 were rats; 35 were squirrels; 3 were raccoons;
and a total of 193 involving ferrets, gerbils, groundhogs, guinea
pigs, hamsters, horses, humans, mice, opossums, rabbits, skunks, snakes,
and others.
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Wild Rats are not Pet Rats. Don’t touch wild rats!