Rats were not always the fun, colorful, patterned little pets we see or are today. There are many different species and more or less all over the world. They play a major role in history and religions worldwide and in today's modern society. This article aims to explore the history of different rats in different cultures.
Let's start with their origins. Rats are rodents of the Muroidea family. As a rodent, their teeth grow steadily and regularly chew things to prevent the growth of teeth and causing painful damage on their heads. They are not picky like rodents, they can even bake on concrete and steel and are supposed to be 7,000 pounds per square inch.
Many rodent and mammalian animals have been shown to rats, although they are not "real rats", such as North American rats and kangaroo rats. "Real rats" are those rats belonging to the Latin genus Rattus the most common of which is the black rat – Rattus Rattus and the brown rat – Rattus Norvegicus . These two rats are the best known and most important for humans. The black rat is shy and less visible than the brown rat. This is mainly because the brown rat caused the black rat to take its habitat and compete for its food. Many other species also become endangered by the competition of black and brown rats. The Fancy Rats are the Rattus Norvegicus species, just as the canal rats!
Rats differ in size from mice, mice are usually smaller and lighter. This is not a completely accurate method for determining the class, as some rats may have mice properties and vice versa. As new species can be discovered, standard classifications may be confusing.
Brown rats came from Asia in Chinese grassland. They spread in Europe in 1553 and arrived in the United States in 1775 after being hiding and traveling on cargo ships. Black rats came to Great Britain for a long time, though brown rats do not have the exact time. The bones found in London show that the Black Rat was already in the middle of the third century and in York in the 5th century.
Today's rat is opportunistic and close to man, houses! This caused them to be classified as a pest. Since a few rats can produce up to 300 young people a year, they are overloaded with tiny cats in many places.
Most people do not realize that rats are more complicated and interesting than they are depicted. They live in colonies that contain complex hierarchies where they form deep bonds, often risking their own lives to rescue their families and friends. Very social, very intelligent and psychological traits are very similar to humans. The rats group is known as a pack, or rather a "trouble". Males are represented by dollars, women and young people, such as puppies or kittens. Domestic rats differ greatly in their wild companions, with smaller hearts, brains, liver, kidneys and adrenal glands. They are more prone to illness, perhaps because of inbreeding. These animals are usually dirty and sick, but that's not true. Rats are constantly cleaning and caring for themselves and other pack members. Wild rats are generally robust and healthy, although urban rats have poor nutrition and can have internal parasites. They can not be passed on to people. It is a fact that rats have very little zoonoses. Among the most well-known among these, Leptospirosis is also known as Weil's disease and is infected with the liver, although this is very rare.
Rats are widespread around the world and many have been worshiped in cultures. Although they are still cloudy in the Western world, perhaps because of their relationship with black plague, which I will talk later. First we look at India where rats are treated as king. In Deshnoke, northwestern India, there is an ornate church standing on Mt. Karni, the goddess of the rat. Many people in our society describe the inner vision of the churches as a terrifying but a rat lover like myself, the content is both wonderful and wonderful.
Thousands of hairy, brown bodies waved on the floor, and the complicated gold and silver work that attracted the walls. The temple exceeded the rats, far more than 20,000. It is the duty of rats to feed bowls and grain because they believe that these hairy brown souls are reincarnated as Sadhus Hindu holy men. People piled on this temple, traveled just miles to sit and share food with the rats or the name of the holy animal. They often eat and drink from the same bowls as the rats believe they are the food that is blessed by a Kabbalah .
In our culture, many people would find this temple to be strange or outrageous, but it is not denied that all religions practice such things as strange to the outsider. The rat loving Hindu temple was built in the 1900s by Maharaja Ganga in honor of the rat goddess Karni Mata. The king often built temples for goddesses more than gods, since goddesses are more sympathetic and likely to help them achieve their purpose. According to legend, Karna Mata was the mystical matriarch of the 14th century. They said Durga, the embodiment of the goddess of power and victory. In one's life, the child of one of his clans died. He tried to bring the baby back to life, only to tell Yama, the God of death, that the child was reincarnated. Karni Mata then discussed with Yama: From then on, all her theses would replant the rats until they were reborn again on her clan.
The rat is also recognized by Lord Ganesh in India and the pictures are often depicted by riding on the rat's back. There are always rat statues in the Ganesh Temple. In Curzon Park, Calcutta, India, there is an attraction that is simply referred to as "Rat Park", where hundreds of rats surround a huge wire rope.
In imperial Chinese culture, rat is the first animal in the Chinese zodiac. Rats are respected in their speed, their ability to value, friendly, natural charm and loyalty to their friends and families. The rat year falls in 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996 and 2008. People born in the rat year say that they have the rat-like qualities of creativity, honesty, generosity and ambition, quick enthusiasm and waste
The rat is the first animal in the Chinese zodiac and the story shows that the twelve animals stood on the banks of the river, arguing that they should lead the cycle of the years. The gods were asked to decide and hold a race when someone reached the other side of the river, first to win and the others to receive their years in the order they were finished. They all jumped into the river, but the ox did not understand that the rat was on his back. That's why the rat jumped and won first. Pigs were very lazy and finally finished. That is why the rat, the ox and the pig are the last year. In old Japan, the white rats were considered to be one of the lucky Seven Gods, Daikoku's messengers. That's why the rats have not been killed. There is an old story about rats in Japanese culture: The old rat kid wanted the strongest husband in the world for their daughter. They asked for the day he refused and said the clouds were stronger than he was, because they could hide it. They asked a cloud who said, "The wind is stronger than I could, because it could blow it." The wind did not know the grade: "The wall stops cold," he said. Even though the wall was respected, he was lamented, "The rat is stronger than I was through a hole through me!" So the couple wisely gave their daughter a marriage to another rat who was actually the most powerful creature of all of them. During the year, the Japanese leave rice cakes to honor the rats
In ancient Rome there was no classification between rats and mice, simply called "big mice" and "small mice." The Romans saw it as rats as protectors as a white rat was found to be beneficial, though the blacks were unlucky. They said that if a rat mumbled his personal wealth, he would have to postpone any business he could consider on that day. it is clear that rats attributed any importance to ancient Egypt, There are pictures that show anthropomorphic rats, but there seems to be no rat dummy. Rats are thought to be pests in Egypt, destroying the plants and their belongings, probably for the sake of the cat.
Perhaps one of the most memorable events in British history for rats is undoubtedly black plague. It is possible that the Western world has such a negative relationship with the rats.
It is often said that rats were the real causes of black plague. This is not true, rats were also victims. The plague is caused by the microorganism, Yersinia Pestis delivered by Tropical Rat Flea. The bacteria blocked the stomach of the fleas, causing dissatisfied hunger. So fleas feed on rats. During the feeding process, the flea would suppress some of the bacteria in the open state, infecting the victim. After a while, the victim died, and soon the starving flea was less and less captured, so he moved to another victim, man. The disease itself appeared in Mongolia in the Gobi Desert around 1320 and spread rapidly through trade, infesting much of Asia before moving to Europe. The plague arrived in Britain in 1348, and in 1349 it infected all cities and villages in Great Britain.
The disease became known as Bubon pestis as it caused painful swelling in the lymph nodes. Over the years, many cases of plague came and went across Britain. But in 1665, the big plague pulsed to London, killing half of its population. The disease spread per person through the air droplets, especially during coughing and sneezing. Due to the lack of medical knowledge at that time, he was rampant through the city. There was an outbreak.
Began as a headache, fatigue, chills, and delirium as a feverish symptom. Lymph nodes swelled, hot and painful. The final stage was septicemia, blood clotting and lung infection. Four or five days later, death came. Nobody knows that the pest has finally come to an end. This may be caused by the lack of food sources, the weakening of the bacteria, or simply the fact that the surviving people became immune. So frighteningly, Bubon pestis is still common in parts of the world today, though it can be treated and does not have the same devastating effect. In the Victorian era, London was blown up with rats. Since rats are the adulterous, opportunistic creatures who have come to realize that they have a lot of food and space to live and not struggle to survive. The rats lead to a host of cruel new bloody sports, which, though ghastly and courageous, is one of the reasons why the Fancy Rats are today.
The rat was an entertaining way of looking at pests. Men took large amounts of live rodents and brought bags to public sports facilities. Rats were thrown into a pit with a dog, or even an adult man. The dog (or man) was timed while breaking through the package. Any dog kills most rats in the shortest time, declared the winner. Jimmy Shaw led one of London's largest sports facilities. After a while, he started collecting and breeding the weird rats to create more colors and patterns. He then sold these "new" rats to pets.
But the man who could be approached as the initiator of the first real domestic rats, the royal rat pincushion, Jack Black. The rise in the rat population meant that many men found new jobs, such as those they knew, ie pathogens. Often, these men provided sports houses. During his work, Black had undergone several rats, and after a while he started collecting and running the odd colors. After a while there was enough collection; albino, fawn, gray and marked rodents, which were then sold as domestic animals. Among them Jack Black and Jimmy Shaw sold hundreds of pet rats, laying the foundations of today's Fancy Rats. In the 1800s, colorful or "Fancy" mice became popular pets. People began to notice that these hairy little cats made pleasant and fun companions. It was very easy to keep them, they only require a small house, food and water, and are pleasing to the eye for different colors and qualities. Interest in mice continued to rise, while in 1895, the National Mouse Club was founded in the United Kingdom. The NMC has set up different standards and varieties and held lectures.
Meanwhile, a very special lady, Mary Douglas, lived in the background. In 1901, Douglas wrote the NMC about Fancy Rats and asked if their club would consider expanding their interests including Fancy Rat. After many controversy, the NMC agreed that the same year the Fancy Rats classes were held. In 1912, interest in Fancy Rats exploded and was so high that the NMC decided National Mouse and Rat Club. "During this time, the scientific community discovered the benefits of rats in research." In 1921, Mary Douglas died, and the interest in the rats has started again NMC has returned to its old name In the next few years, lovers of the rat wanted a kind of club, but the rats' interest in pets was still too low and it was not enough rats to have a decent club or the creation of a society The fantasies of the rats were left out until 1976 when the interest was again high enough to launch the National Fancy Rat Society, the first single rat organization
Rats' interest in pets Growth and soon to be established and standardized by new varieties The National Fancy Rat Society is still active today and remains the UK's number one rat club.