Have Rats Got A Bad Rap?

This is an Opinion Piece

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Have Rats Got A Bad Rap?

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A lot of people just don't like rats. Some people even have a fear of these little rodents. This fear is usually referred to as murophobia.

There are many types of rats with the black rat being the most common of them.

Rats are mammals as they have live young. They are also rodents. Rodents are a group of animals distinguished by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. Rats, mice and beavers all belong to the rodent family.

Rats are quite intelligent and we have trained and used them for a variety of work. Because of their great sense of smell the have been trained and used for sniffing out gunpowder and land mines. They have also been trained to sniff out TB in human patients and have been used as therapy animals just as dogs and other farm animals have. They are used in medicine, medical testing and research as they are similar in biology to humans.

Rats are social animals and have altruistic tendencies towards their own kind. In a recent experiment where a rat was given chocolate chips, the rat would first free another rat that was caged and then share the chips. Females showed a greater inclination to do this over males, 100% for females to 70% for males.

Rats make good pets and many people who have had rats as pets describe them as very loving creatures. Unfortunately, there life spans are limited to about 2 years of age.

As a food source. Yes, you heard that right! We have been eating rats for thousands of years. There are many cultures around the world that eat rats as a food source. Even in North America rats are used as a source of meat. Many fast food restaurants use rat meat mixed with beef.
Watch that Chili you ordered!

Rats biggest bad rap has been in the spread of Bubonic Plague, "The Black Death", during the mid 1400's. During this pandemic an estimated 200,000,000 humans died. It wasn't the rats that spread the disease but rather the fleas that the rats carried.

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In this article the unsanitary conditions of humans during the time may have had more to do with the spread of the disease than rats.

Rats could be considered pests as they go where there is food. Farmers have always had a problem with mice and rats that get into grain silos. Alberta, Canada is considered a rat free province but rats do live here despite what our government would like us to believe.

In Conclusion

I am not trying to cure your phobias about rats! All I am trying to say is that they have gotten a bad rap over the years.
What they have contributed to our society by way of medicine and medical breakthroughs, as a food source and helping us get rid of the millions of landmines around the world should be taken into account!
Personally, I love rats!