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Musophobes (people who are afraid of rats and mice) would probably be horrified if they saw Bosavi's woolly rat. This species was discovered in 2009 in the jungle of Papua New Guinea. Today she is considered the largest rat in the world. Its length is 80-82 cm (including tail) and it weighs over 1.40 kg. For comparison, an ordinary rat is only about 50 cm long (including the tail), and weighs about 340 grams.
Rat Temple in Denshok, India
A very curious fact about the life of rats is based on a legend cult of the goddess Durga... Allegedly, she reincarnated in a female image and took a name Karni Mata... Her son drowned in the lake. Karni Mata began to persuade the god of death Yama to return the child to her. God was adamant. According to legend, the souls of all descendants did not go to the kingdom of the god of death, but settled in the body of rats.
In this regard, a temple was opened in Denshok, where rodents are still revered as relatives of departed human souls. They are fed by pilgrims. Among the individuals there is a white rat that bears the status of a queen. If she comes out and accepts the treat from the hands of the visitor, then this person will be happy.
Despite this, the pests were excommunicated by the European bishops. Therefore, it will not work to meet a rodent in a holy place.
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Basically, the main goal in their life is food and reproduction. Most species are nocturnal, although there are also those species that are active during the daytime.
They usually live in packs. New flocks are formed after the male and female settle in a place where there is no other flock. A group of two individuals quickly grows into a huge flock.
The packs have a strict hierarchy. Usually it is headed by the largest male.
Presence of musical preferences
Rats don't like all sounds. Rodents even know a little about music. Scientists conducted an experiment. The rats were given several songs to listen to: Mozart, contemporary music and the noise from a running fan. Then the animals were placed in a cage with special buttons, pressing each of which made it possible to hear one or another music or sound. Most of the rats chose Mozart. Only a few of them preferred modern music. No one liked the sound of a running fan. None of the rodents made their choice in favor of him.
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They are omnivores. They eat anything but still prefer meat when they can get it. Domestic rats take advantage of human life by feeding on their food waste.
In addition, they eat grain, kill insects, snails, small birds, and lizards.
There are species, such as the Sulawesian rat and the Hoffman rat, that prefer to eat only plant foods.
Stories not made up: the fossil rat
Found a fossilized rat skull the size of a car. This creature lived about four million years ago, weighed about a ton and ate mainly plant foods. She was so large that she spent most of her life half submerged in water, like a hippo, to reduce her own weight pressure.
A rat almost bitten a python
A Python named Ponytail dines once a month, and each time he is given a live rat. Appetite depends on the temperature in the terrarium. During the last feeding, it was unusually cold inside the environmental center.The python went into hibernation, and then a hungry rat attacked him, which was taken away by the fate of live food. The 3-meter snake almost died. “The rat strongly gnawed one side of the python and inflicted about 4 wounds, that is, it ate right up to the meat,” says Vadim Krivosheev, head of the Museum of Natural History of the Ulyanovsk Ecological Fund.
Python was injected with novocaine, cleaned the wounds and stitched up the damaged tissues with strong silk threads. After the operation, the python was prescribed a course of intensive care. Every day, veterinarians treat wounds with a special ointment and injections of antibiotics. Apparently, the tiger python is on the mend, but so far it has no appetite. After suffering stress, he stopped responding to rats.
Rats got drunk at the expense of Indian police
Police in the state of Bihar (India) seized the product from a company that illegally sells beer and cognac and placed it in a cellar for storage. However, the rats, from which, as you know, everyone in India suffers without exception, managed to get into the police store and gnaw the containers with the seized alcoholic products. Now, as the police say, drunken rodents walk the streets of the city and bite passers-by on the legs. “We are already fed up with these rats and have no idea why they were suddenly drawn to alcohol,” says senior police officer Kundan Krishnan. The indignation of law enforcement officers is quite understandable, since rodents practically deprive them of their earnings: seized products are usually sold at auction.
Interesting facts about rats
Hierarchy in rats
To study their swimming ability, Didier Dezor, a scientist at the Behavioral Biology Laboratory at the University of Nancy, put six rats in a cage, from where there was only one exit - to the pool. To get to the trough with food, you had to swim across the pool. It soon became clear that not all rats go out to get food.
The roles were split as follows: two exploited swimmers, two exploiters, one independent swimmer and one scapegoat. Two exploited were sailing for food. When they returned to the cage, two exploiters beat them and dipped their heads into the water until they released their prey. Only by feeding their masters did the two slaves receive their own portion. The exploiters never swam across the pool to get enough, they only had to beat the swimmers.
The independent swimmer was strong enough and did not obey the exploiters. And finally, the scapegoat could neither swim nor intimidate the exploited, he just picked up the crumbs that were scattered during the fights. The same group structure - two exploited, two exploiters, an independent swimmer and a scapegoat - was repeated during the experiment in twenty cages. To better understand the mechanism of the emergence of hierarchy, Didier Dezor placed six exploiters in one cell. They fought all night. By morning, the roles were assigned according to the usual pattern: two exploiters, two exploited, an independent swimmer and a scapegoat.
An experiment with six exploited, six independent, and six scapegoats gave the same result. Scientists from Nancy learned another result of these experiments by finding the skulls of the subjects and analyzing the state of their brains. It was not the scapegoats that were the most destructive of the stress, but the exploited and exploiters. They were afraid that the slaves would cease to obey them.
Tree rats
The tree rats are neotomes. The tree rats are neotomes. They live in North America. They have a reputation for being thieves and money changers. Rats, as you know, carry all their food to their nest. Neotoma is also not devoid of a passion for accumulation, but prefers to collect not food supplies, but shiny objects. There have been cases of rats stealing watches, dentures from a glass, and even coins from a wallet.
In addition, there is a lot of evidence when these rats in place of the stolen items were brought in "exchange" by others. There is a known case when an artel of miners was left without boxes of nuts, finding pebbles instead. And from one miner, a rat stole a shiny metal case and attracted a nugget of gold in its place. The miner began to feed his generous guest and once tracked her down. It turned out that the rat's burrow was next to a gold mine. Anything stolen or "exchanged" is used by the rat to decorate the interior of the burrow.
The rat's dwelling is multi-room: a bedroom, a closet and a toilet! Neotoma's nest is an impregnable fortress: the entrance is decorated with thorny cacti. You can't get through a door like that!
The mouse set fire to the house Luciano Mares, 81 years old, saw a mouse in his house and, frightened of the harm that he could cause, he decided to urgently get rid of it. He caught her and threw her alive into the fire. But the mouse managed to escape from there and with a blazing back ran through the window into the house, setting fire to everything in its path. The house burned down.
A similar incident happened to a resident of India. Ranveer Sinha decided to give the trapped animal to execution by burning. He tied a rope dipped in kerosene to its tail and set the end on fire. The mouse, distraught with fear, managed to escape from the trap and began to rush around the house with a burning torch on its tail. As a result, only embers remained from the man's housing.
The rat in the cabin cost the airline half a million dollars
The rat that entered the cabin of the Saudi Airlines' Boeing 747 cost the airline $ 545,000. Passengers who found a rat in the cabin raised a panic, and the plane, which was supposed to fly from Cairo to Jeddah, was returned directly from the runway. Another plane was urgently called from Saudi Arabia, which finally, with an eight-hour delay, delivered the passengers to their destination.
At the same time, after the rat incident, 28 people refused to fly by "Saudi Airlines" at all. As a result, Boeing was able to take off from Cairo only the next day. During the time spent on catching the rat, the plane carrying 500 passengers had to make three flights.
Woe Animal Protectors
Love for animals sometimes takes on a tragicomic form. Thus, in early July 2006, activists of the Animal Liberation Front abducted over 10 thousand rats, mice and hamsters from the Bolshak laboratory animal nursery. All the rodents were released by the animal rights activists in the Chekhov district of the Moscow region, which perfectly frightened the residents of nearby villages.
Summer residents, agitated by the invasion of rodents, asked for help from the police, firefighters, and employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, and poisoned the newcomers themselves with whatever they could. However, experts are sure that it is pointless to poison the released animals. “Once in the wild, laboratory animals become ready-made food for birds of prey and dogs. This is especially true of white mice, devoid of the instinct of self-preservation. The maximum lifespan of these rodents in the Moscow region is no longer than a month.
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They swim very well. They can dive and travel long distances. Of course, it cannot be said that swimming brings them pleasure, but it helps them a lot to move along the sewer pipes. Therefore, it is not surprising that rats often crawl out of the toilet.
Thanks to research, scientists have found that rats can swim for three days without stopping, while covering up to 29 km.
Amazing facts about rats you didn't know about (6 photos)
Rats have instilled fear in human hearts for centuries due to their notoriety. These animals were considered carriers of diseases and parasites. However, it is worth noting that in addition to notoriety, they also have outstanding qualities and abilities, which I will tell you about below.
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one.Rats appeared on Earth 48 million years earlier than humans. 2. On average, there are 2 rats for every inhabitant of the planet. 3. The joints of mice and humans are the same, and the bones have an equal number of parts. 4. In the Middle Ages in Europe, at the direction of one of the bishops, rats were excommunicated from the church. 5. A rat can swim for 3 days in a row, swim several kilometers (the recorded record is 29 km) and drown if it does not find an opportunity to get out.
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6. Gray rats are able to move at a speed of 10 km / h, jump up to a height of 80 cm, and in an aggressive state - up to 2 meters. 7. In a rat, the heart beats at a rate of 500 times per minute, in a house mouse, the heart beats 700–750 times per minute. 8. The finest hairs covering the rat's tail are used in ophthalmology for eye surgery. 9. Rats dive well and climb well on ropes, pipes, trees. During the day, rats are able to overcome from 10 to 50 km. 10. The teeth of rats grow all their lives, so they chew on something all the time to grind them down.
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11. The rat easily gnaws through solid substances such as concrete and metal. 12. Rats emit a whistle in the ultrasonic range, which allows them to communicate with each other without attracting the attention of predators. And they whistle not with their lips, but with their throats. They are also capable of suddenly changing the frequency of signals. 13. Rats have the richest vocabulary of calls with special meanings. At the moment of stress, the rat makes a sound that is equal in volume to a working pneumatic jackhammer, however, due to the fact that it has an ultra-high frequency, the person does not hear it. 14. It only takes a rat 50 milliseconds to figure out where the smell is coming from. 15. The rat senses X-rays by the part of the brain that controls the sense of smell.
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16. A rat a year consumes about 12 kg of food, but this is incomparable with the amount of food that it makes useless. Statistics say that every sixth farmer does not feed people, but rats. 17. Rats are able to distinguish poisoned food from ordinary food even when the concentration of the poison is one part per million. 18. A rat can live without water longer than a camel, and generally longer than all mammals. 19. Rats can withstand very high levels of radiation, but can die from mental shock or prolonged stress. 20. The rat is the only mammal other than humans that can laugh.
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21. Rats have dreams too. 22. The rat family owns a site with a radius of about 150 m. 23. Scientists have put forward a version that rats could cause the extinction of dinosaurs. Rats - egg lovers - massively sucked out the contents of dinosaur eggs, thereby stopping the continuation of their kind. This seems to be true, as already today in Ireland, rats have eaten all marsh frogs. 24. During the Great Patriotic War, during the bombing, people hid in houses where rats ran away. 25. In Illinois, under threat of a $ 1,000 fine, "it is forbidden to hit rats with a baseball bat."
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Like beavers, rats do not stop growing teeth. It is for this reason that these animals have a constant habit of chewing on something. If they don't chew all the time, their teeth will become too long and they won't be able to chew properly.
For a person, this habit poses a serious threat. In addition to gnawing furniture and walls, rats can gnaw through electrical cables, which can lead to short circuits and even fire.
Fact 3 rats are smart, socialized animals
And it is true. Compared to our usual pets, the rat is superior to the cat in intelligence. Rodents can laugh and talk. The sounds they make are very diverse, and communication is real speech with specific words and concepts. This explains the well-organized life of animals. Many rat breeders note that animals can make a huge number of sounds, and each one is meaningful, and, like words in human speech, sounds the same in different individuals.They talk, negotiate, make fun of funny situations. Scientists have concluded that the sounds of rats are akin to human communication. And this is amazing.
Go ahead. Rats are incredibly clean creatures in terms of personal hygiene. They wash sweetly for several hours a day. This greatly reduces the chance of getting sick, even when compared to a cat, let alone a dog. The plots of many pictures of rats show how the rodent washes. He tries to lick all the fur. The rat's love for water bodies also contributes to cleanliness. The animals are not at all afraid of water and dive well.
Clever rats remember the road after walking along it once. They are never lost, they easily find a way out of the labyrinths. Thanks to their natural ingenuity and high learning ability, these rodents are considered one of the thriving species. By the way, studying the skull of a rat, scientists came to the conclusion that the potential for the development of an animal's intelligence is not much different from that of a human. But so far these animals are not smarter than us.
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Have you ever wondered how they get rid of excess heat in the body? People sweat, but how do rats do it? Surprisingly, they do it with their tail. Yes, they use it not only to balance, but also to get rid of excess heat. Their tail allows them to dissipate up to 17% of body heat.
Kangaroo rats
Kangaroo rats do well in deserts. With their Australian counterparts, they are related by large hind legs and bearing offspring in pouches for almost 4 months.
Kangaroo rats are so adapted to the hot harsh conditions that they are able to live their entire rather big life without a single sip of water.
In Iran, rats have become so widespread and gradually increased in size that they have become the size of a cat. Snipers had to be used to exterminate the rodents.
Small gray rodents have phenomenal memory. As soon as they study the navigation route somewhere, it will not be erased from their memory until the end of their lives. This is not topographic disorientation in humans. Many, even with a map in their hands, are capable of getting lost in three pines.
During games, rats make pleasant "sounds" similar to human laughter. Muskrat
The desman mammal, widespread in Europe and Russia, is similar to:
- Mole
- Anteater
- River rat
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Their lifespan directly depends on whether it is domestic or wild. Pets usually live longer, up to 4 years old, as they do not face the same problems that wild species face. But the life expectancy of wild rats usually does not exceed 2 years. Although in some cases they can live up to 3 years.
Fact 5 about life and disease
It is believed that if a rat has bitten, then that's it, you get sick with almost the most terrible diseases. In fact, this is more myth than truth. Or rather, even the memory of the plague epidemics that develop from the invasion of rats and claim thousands of human lives in medieval Europe. Of course, there was such a historical fact. And the point here, first of all, is not in the bite of a rat, but in the general unsanitary conditions prevailing in the cities of those years. Sewage poured right through the streets, food and other waste rotted everywhere, people did not wash for weeks. In such conditions, the emergence of epidemics is not surprising.
But rat immunity is amazing. These clean animals practically do not get sick. The reason for this is, firstly, a passion for personal hygiene, and secondly, initially good health. Rodents even have a gene that protects against sexually transmitted diseases.
Rats do not like to bite. In order for it to bite a person (especially if it is a tamed animal), you need to try very hard. Rodents are peaceful, do not enter into conflicts. And yet, the bitten one may panic: what if it was me who was not lucky, and some terrible disease was nevertheless transmitted? Do not be afraid, usually everything is bypassed.But still, there is a possibility of contracting rabies, especially in the case of a wild animal. Therefore, when answering the question of what to do if bitten by a rat, we advise: consult a doctor immediately.
Now about how long they live. We will warn you right away: if you have such a friend, new emotions and admiration are guaranteed, but not for long. The entire life of the animal is no more than 2-3 years, although some record holders live up to 7-8. That's how long rats live, and it's sad, because, having barely become attached to a pet, the owner is already forced to say goodbye to them.
Now you know all the fun about rats. Having got such animals at home and listening to what sounds they make, you will learn to understand how pets communicate, to distinguish their intonations. It's always interesting to watch this. If you decide who is better to have - a rat or a mouse, we recommend the first option. This species is social, gets used to it faster and is easier to learn. In addition, cases of aggression towards humans are more common in mice. Pet stores also offer supplies for rats and other rodents.
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Many were surprised at how easily they squeezed into small holes, which are several times narrower than their bodies. In fact, this flexibility is achieved thanks to the structure of the skeleton. The ribs in rats are hinged to the spine, so they literally fold like an umbrella. This means that if the head of a rat can crawl through the hole, then it will be able to squeeze through a more voluminous body.
External and main characteristics
Rats belong to the order of rodents and the mouse family. World diversity is estimated at seven dozen species... In our country, three are most common:
- The gray ones.
- Redheads.
- Black.
The dimensions of the animal can reach 30 cm in the body and the same along the length of the tail. Weight depends on the species and can be 35-40 g, and maybe almost kg. Gray rats are such large ones. The paws of the animal are equipped with separate movable fingers and, in general, the limbs are surprisingly tenacious. It is understandable why the rodent climbs so nimbly in any direction, both up and down, and moves quickly.
Pasyuk prefer to live in large families in burrows. Females can bring up to 20-22 pups in one litter. But this is more the exception than the rule. The average number of offspring is 7-10 pieces.
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If you think they can be easily poisoned, you are wrong. To poison a rat, you need to try very hard. All this is due to the fact that in unfamiliar places and with unfamiliar products, they behave very carefully. For example, they break off a small piece of the food they find and taste it. If they do not feel bad, they eat it whole, if it does, then the food is poisoned and they will avoid it.
We also recommend reading: Interesting facts about Grenada
Physical and mental abilities of rats
Mammals of the mouse family are able to move along vertical surfaces. They are excellent swimmers for distances reaching the order of 800 m, while managing to catch fry.
Individuals reproduce, incredibly quickly. The offspring of one female can be 15,000 rat pups... Despite the extermination of pests, such figures are very, impressive.
Once on an American island, nuclear weapons were tested. Scientists have been waiting for the result of the consequences for a long time. For this, traps were set on one of the surviving islands.
To their surprise, the traps were filled with rats, and in large numbers. Biologists realized that rodents resistant to radiation, and their life cycle has increased. Although scientists have established the lifespan of animals, it is slightly more than 1 year.
Natural pests are endowed with excellent memory... If they find that the installed trap or an ordinary stone is slightly shifted, then this place will be bypassed by them for 2-3 days.
Rodents are dangerous not only for property, but also for human life... They are carriers of more than 20 pathogens of various diseases. The most common is plague... People have come up with ways to get rid of the disease, but you should not relax your attention, since other dangers can be expected from the gray creatures.
Rats - unique animals... They can easily distinguish between poisoned foods, which speaks of excellent mental abilities.
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Newborn rat pups are born with closed eyes and hairless. They are completely naked, see nothing and hear nothing, although all their instincts are already formed. The eyes of rat pups open after 12-17 days, and they stop feeding on milk 3 weeks after birth.
This concludes our article. We hope this information was interesting and useful for you. See you soon, dear visitors.
- about the author
- The last notes
Professional blogger and full-time website author. The latest achievement was the receipt of two higher educations (master's degree) in different fields of activity.
Tooth structure
The dentition of an animal with its own characteristics. There are only two types of teeth:
Molars... Six on each jaw (three on the right and on the left), total - 12. The animal chews food with molars, they have a flat shape and sufficient width. Rat pups acquire teeth on the 19th day of life, first with the first pair on each jaw, then the second and third in turn. The third, the last one grows by the 40th day.
Incisors... Two at the top and bottom in the middle of the jaws, four in total. These teeth do not stop growing throughout life. They are able to gnaw even a stone. With a complete loss of incisors, they grow back in 50 days. The color of a very strong (comparable in hardness to steel) enamel is yellow. When chewing, the incisors move apart as needed. This is regulated by the rat itself.
What does the water rat eat?
Photo: Water rat in the garden
The water rat is a herbivore and eats exclusively plant foods.
The water rat's diet includes:
- reed;
- cane;
- sedge;
- arrowhead;
- sickness;
- waterfowl and algae;
- roots of water lilies;
- rhizomes and bark of trees;
- young shoots of shrubs;
- vegetables fruits;
- moss;
- plant seeds, spikelets of grain crops.
In the summer, rats get their food near the reservoir, where they feel completely safe. Minks, rats are pulled out by placing the entrance near the reservoir, so that when leaving the water, it would be possible to immediately hide in a hole in case of danger. In autumn, these animals move to forests or closer to fields and cultural plantings.
In winter, they feed mainly on the bark and rhizomes of fruit trees and shrubs, causing irreparable harm to them. Therefore, farms are actively fighting these rodents. Water rats are not whimsical in food, therefore they are able to survive even in the harsh conditions of Siberia and Yakutia.
Interesting fact: Water rats eat only in specially designated areas. They arrange for themselves "feeding tables" or "feeding burrows" where the animal can safely eat. Such places can be recognized by the presence of various leftovers in the form of half-eaten leaves and stems.
In captivity, water rats are fed with grain, grass, melons and gourds of various fruits and vegetables.
Rat footprints
They are similar to the tracks of other rodents, but with peculiarities. One footprint is approximately 2x1.5 cm. The forelimbs leave four-toed imprints, the long toe is set wide apart.
From the hind, long, 4 cm paw, only half a trace remains. He is five-fingered, with side fingers wide apart. Size 2x2.
On the snow cover, the chain of tracks is thin, if the animal moves at a fast run. When jumping, the trail looks like a squirrel. Sometimes in the snow you can see the imprint of a trailing tail.
