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Background and History
Our relationship with rats is likely to have really begun to blossom with a hunter-gatherer human society transforming into permanent settlement dwellers. Settled societies typically learn how to farm which would in turn result in the need to store grain, vegetables, and other produce. For a rat, this would have been an invitation for a 'free lunch' and also a place of relative safety from predators and the elements. With such luxuries close at hand, the rat would have remained near human dwellings and taken advantage of every possible resource that would benefit their survival. Without a real in depth knowledge of the history of rats we can only guess at how different societies over the ages would have responded to their presence. Perhaps rats were welcomed into a society and kept as a readily available food source as we see with Peruvian guinea pigs. Maybe a nest of rats was found and the pups were reared as tamed pets. Societies like to put their faith in different beliefs or legends and we can infer that rats were actively welcomed, as deities as we still see today, or through a more general respect for nature's gifts and allowed to live within the society as tolerated guests. Without evidence, we can only allow our imaginations to roam from the far fetched to probable based on what we know from similar sources. With all the societies that have inhabited the Earth over vast amounts of unrecorded time we can presume that rat-human relations developed both positively and negatively in a multitude of forms. Early Origins
Rats are part of an order of mammals known as rodents (Rodentia). Rodents are known for the continual growth of their upper and lower teeth (incisors). The gnawing action helps to keep the front teeth from growing too long. Fossil records of superficially rodent like mammals have been traced back to an estimated 65 million years ago with true rodents arriving towards the end of the Paleocene epoch approximately 55 million years ago. Rodents are likely to have descended from rodent like ancestors called anagalids. It is believed that the largomorpha descended from anagalids. We better know largomorpha for rabbits. The brown rat's scientific classification is as follows:
Kingdom:
Animalia Rodents in general act as a very good time measure. The rodent species are abundant and with their short generational spans and faster evolutionary change when compared to other animals we can set dates with better accuracy. The brown rat is thought to have originated in central Asia and its journey to habitat the world (except in the coldest extremes) can certainly be directly associated with its relationship with humans. While we can not say for sure how the brown rat got its name Rattus norvegicus, we do know that John Berkenhout, who wrote the book "Outlines of the Natural History of Great Britain" in 1769, gave the brown rat its species specific name in the belief that it had migrated to England from Norwegian ships in 1728. The brown rat is thought to have moved into Europe around 1553 and to North America around 1775. Symbolic History There is very little recorded history about ancient rat-human connections. Ancient Egyptians are reported to have worshipped rats as gods but also despised them due to their destructive nature. We know a lot more about the history of cat worship in Egypt than rat worship. It looks like rats must have lost favour and their godlike status to cats.
In India there is a legend that Karni Mata, a mystic matriarch from the 14th century, was an incarnation of Durge, the goddess of power and victory. During her reign, the child of one of her clansmen died and she attempted to bring the child back to life. Yama, the god of death, told her the child had already been reincarnated. Karni Mata negotiated a deal with Yama that would allow all her tribes people to be reborn as rats until they could ultimately be reborn back into the clan. Karni Mata temple is a 600 year old temple in Deshnoke, Rajasthan, India. The temple is home to thousands of rats (estimated at over 20,000 but who's counting?) that have their every whim cared for. Many people travel to the temple to feed the rats and pay their respects. The following videos are footage from the temple.
Domestic Laboratory Rats
The animal welfare organisation (AWI) was founded in 1951 to promote the welfare of laboratory animals. Although the organisation has branched out into numerous other animal welfare activities they haven't forgotten laboratory animals and this includes the laboratory rat. Domestic Pet Fancy Rats
Jack Black is credited with being the originator of the first true domestic rat. However, in the course of his work and free time he was involved in the destruction of rats which included vicious cruelty through rat pits (destruction of rats by a dog for sport). In the 1840s, a journalist (Henry Mayhew) interviewed Jack Black and received a very detailed and frank account of his work and connected lifestyle. While the interview will make a rat lover cringe, it does provide us with a priceless account of rat history. The thriving modern pet fancy rat community we see today continues to grow in scope and complexity. A search on the internet provides multiple pet rat resources on all manner of topic. Pet fancy rats are selectively bred for colour, size, shape, temperament, fur type (or not in some cases), and other qualities that add variation to the species. We get to choose the pet fancy rats we desire and dictate their quality of life. Let's make sure we give back freely based on a sound understanding of the behaviour and needs of this most wonderful of species.
Rena taking a chunk of tofu.
A sample of rat resources aimed at pet rat owners and students. |
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From a human perspective, the brown
rat (
In China, the rat is the first
animal in the Chinese zodiac cycle. The doctrine of the 12 animals of the
zodiac appeared during the Han dynasty over 2000 years ago. My own zodiac
sign is ox. Year of the ox people are best matched with year of the rat
people. My wife was born in the year of the horse. Lucky my choice was
shaped by evolutionary factors rather than legend and belief.
The
brown rat was the first mammal to be domesticated for use in scientific
research as far back as the 1820s. The first recorded breeding colony
was established in 1858. Initial research studies focused on coat colour but
rats soon moved on to being an experiment tool for testing medicine and
chemicals. Modern day use of rats as biological tools support research
ranging from transplantation to space motion sickness.
