by Kim Doner
Let’s talk rat.
OK, I know you just shuddered; I can anticipate readers who are squeamish about
all rodents. (Really? Including capybaras? WOW! That big? Oops, I digress…)
But let’s face it, most people find mice — and their much larger cousins, rats — to be somewhere between creepy and disgusting.
This is a shame. True, these creatures can certainly trigger strong reactions from any of us — in particular, rats. Watching them raid your bird feeder feels pretty invasive; hearing them in the walls is even worse. True, they spread multiple diseases, and tons of stories have cast them as THE bad guys (excepting Ratatouille, which is genius). Many also claim that feral cats prevent an overpopulation of rodents (actually, that honor goes more to snakes and owls).
I’m not here to help with pest control, but hear me out: Rats are crucial to our survival in many ways. Don’t “Pshaw!” me — just keep reading.
Meet Oklahoma’s Rats
Oklahoma has three kinds of rats. I’ll start with the smallest in size and population and then size up.
1 The eastern woodrat, also called the pack
rat, is a species that prefers a diet of fruits, vegetables, and bugs. They do little damage to crops and are endangered in several states because of predation, food shortage, loss of habitat, and possibly disease. Solitary and territorial, they received their nickname because they cache much more than food; woodrats gather corncobs, paper, shotgun shells, cans, and bones as material to build their dens and then store dry food inside in the fall.
2 The black rat, a rodent whose relatives most
probably sailed in from India (where a Hindu temple in Rajasthan considers them holy), is blamed for much of the Black Death in Europe. Although this species, like most rats, can carry a wide variety of infectious bacteria in its blood — and not develop the diseases themselves — historians have begun to believe that plagues spread mostly through humans. (See? I told you rats get a bad rap!)
In Australia, the effect of the black-rat population is seen as a mixed bag. Their diet and subsequent elimination changed the pH of the soil in areas — which then messed up the vegetation. Black rats went on to compete with the native bush rats and take over their turf. Bush rats had been responsible for spreading the spores of their favorite food — truffles (you may use your imagination on how this happened). Truffle production should have plummeted, ruining such pricey crops, but no!
Truffle farmers lucked out! The black rat likes truffles too! Who knew? Thus, truffle-loving black rats proved to be a happy trade in contributing to the diversity of fungi in Australia.
(Minor point here: I started to laugh when I read that their “correct identity” is Rattus rattus. Whoever names these guys could benefit from a creative writing course, IMHO.)
3 The brown rat (see above statement
re an appalling lack of imagination in rodent naming) is pretty much supreme in the Oklahoma Rat Department. Also called Norway rats, they probably originated in Asia and arrived in the United States through Russian shipping, hence the name Norway (sounds like a politician was involved somewhere in naming, right?).
These kids weigh as much as one-anda-quarter pounds and can grow to 16 inches long. Unlike the tree-loving black rats, Norwegian browns prefer burrows — miles and miles of elaborate burrows, running underground anywhere there’s ground. They’re found everywhere except Antarctica and can thrive on anything — fruits, vegetables, insects, seeds, nuts, garbage, waste (another good reason to scoop poop in your backyard), and each other.
Males and females of brown ratdom are called bucks and does; the babies are pups. Breeding begins at three months, and the does can have as many as seven litters a year, with the strongest and fittest of the bucks usually dominating. Rats are very hierarchical. (Warning: I’m going to assume we are all adults or adult enough to read the following: When a doe goes into heat, she can mate as many as 500 times during her six-hour cycle. Mind-boggled.)
Luckily for the rest of the animal kingdom, wild rats usually live no longer than a year, with the oldest recorded brown rat surviving to the ripe old age of seven (considering their procreational track records, I can see why). Another weird fact to throw out at your next gathering: More and more rats are becoming immune to certain poisons and can ingest tainted food with no problem. Sort of like teenagers….
Rats Benefit Human Life
Some centuries back, because of their reproductive abilities, rats became blood sport for betting and entertainment, bred as victims of competition. Records from about 1820 reveal a dog’s speed in dispatching rodents, with terrier breeds quickly shining. Scientists noted how fast rats replaced themselves, and by the mid- 1800s, used them in experiments, while breeding became steadily refined to control genetic variation.
Yes, all of those animals most probably suffered; yes, you may owe your life or the life of a loved one to this history.
But using rats for their bodies’ abilities isn’t the only area of their existence that has benefited humans. These creatures are intelligent, like to play, have critical thinking skills, and are far easier to guide than a toddler. As you read this, trainers are working with African giant pouched rats (nicknamed HeroRATs) for a wide variety of reasons beneficial to humans.
Within nine months, a young rat can be taught to scent a land mine and alert the rat’s handler. With postwar land mines still scattered throughout many countries, this skill has prevented countless tragedies. Rats can cover an area in 30 minutes, compared with four days of human effort.
On the health front, HeroRATs can diagnose tuberculosis, a major killer in equatorial countries and plenty contagious. Rats clear 100 samples in 20 minutes, but technicians need four days to detect disease through a microscope.
At this point, these rats are being trained for disasters. Wearing tiny backpacks with built-in phones, rats can fit through tiny spaces to search for earthquake victims.
There may come a day when seeing a rat could mean the difference between life and death in the best of ways, maybe for someone you love.
So I salute them. Heroes, indeed.
