Species Identification

 


Rats as almost everybody knows are medium-sized, long-tailed rodents that live in the same environment that humans do. They sometimes live in our houses with us without us even knowing they are present. Rats to some people are pets and to other people are some of the most troublesome rodents in the United States. Rats eat the same food that humans do, but they can also contaminate our food, damage our homes, and transmit a variety of diseases that can be deadly to humans and other animals. Some of the diseases that rats can transmit to humans are food poisoning, murine typhus, and rat bite fever. In some, cases rats can even carry the plague which can be transmitted to both humans and livestock. Rats not only will contaminate and eat our food, but they can also cause damage to our building structures. Rats are destructive animals and can chew on many types of materials such as soft metals, electrical wires, and even wooden structures. Rats are known for thriving in all types of climates and conditions and can be found almost anywhere humans reside.

There are two types of rats, Norway rats and roof rats. These rats are similar but are also different in many ways. Norway rats sometimes referred to as sewer rats are larger and usually spend most of their time underground, typically nesting around moist areas like under building foundations, woodpiles, or around fields, most typically around farms where food is plentiful. Norway rats can be found in all 48 states. Roof rats or black rats are smaller than Norway rats, but their tails are longer than both their head and body combined. Roof rats like to climb and usually reside in nests that are above ground as in trees, shrubs, or like the name, in the ceilings of buildings or attics. Unlike Norway rats roof rats prefer warmer climates.

Rats are not native to the United States, and it is believed that rats were first introduced to the states in 1776 when ships first came to America. They traveled in crates filled with grain and lived in the hull of the ships. Rats are not endangered whatsoever and are mainly viewed as pests here in the United States. Rats are originally believed to originate from southeast Asia and eventually spread to northeast Asia around 200,000 years ago. In some of my research, I did find that rodents extend back 56 million years ago to the Late Paleocene Epoch in North America. Rats are thought to of spread throughout the world mainly by humans. As trade and travel expanded rats moved with us and most of the time people unknowingly brought them along with them. The most common rats today are brown rats or Norway rats and can be found everywhere in the world whether that be in our basements, attics, or even right underneath our nose living in our house. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Moral Vision Statement

Image
It is common for certain groups of animals such as rats to be forgotten. People tend to have a disinterest for the species, which leads to a lack of knowledge of how these animals are treated and a disconnect emotionally. However, there should be a bare minimum understanding that rats can experience pain; they are not devoid from physical or mental/emotional suffering. Much like the animals that tend have higher value in Western society (i.e dogs and cats), rats should be given the right to humane treatment. To improve upon the treatment of rats, a few solutions could be implemented. Rats (and all lab animals for that manner) should be protected under the Animal Welfare Act, and that act should be reviewed and enforced by a reliable, non-affiliated third party. Rats should not be subjected to testing or additional suffering if it is not necessary for medical advancement (such as cosmetic testing) or if there is a feasible alternative. In addition, other daily inhumane acts such as cert...
Read more

The Social History and Domestication of Rats

Image
Are rats pets or pests, friends or foes? Rats and humans have a rich history of interaction. Rats have found ways to take advantage of human agriculture, infrastructure, and waste, while humans have found ways to use rats for research, companionship, and even military purposes. There are also negative ways we interact such as rats being vectors for disease and humans constantly trying to kill off rat populations with poison and traps. Before rats were domesticated by humans, our two species already had frequent interactions. When humans began shifting from hunter-gatherer lifestyles to lifestyles of agriculture, that opened the door for many human-rat interactions. Rats have been living in the homes of humans, eating food from human farms, and eating food stored in man-made structures for thousands of years, and they continue to do so. Anyone living in large cities can attest to the fact that rats love living in close proximity with humans, and they always find a way into our homes, fo...
Read more

Rat Ethology

Image
D espite what other people may tell you, It’s important to recognize that rats exhibit a very wide range of emotions. They generally aren't given credit for this because of our perception of them as pests. They experience emotions ranging from joy, sadness, and fear, to more complex ones like the ability to empathize or regret decisions. The ability to regret in rats was a large discovery because, before 2014, no mammal apart from humans was proven to have the capacity to experience regret. A study was done where a rat had the choice to wait in line for a favorite food or to find a less fulfilling meal elsewhere. After choosing to eat something else, some rats were observed going back to wait for the tastier food. The relevant part of this study is that the rats regretted leaving the line. Some may argue that they experienced disappointment only rather than regret, however, their orbitofrontal cortex became active, which is the same part of the brain that activates in humans when w...
Read more