World Record-Breaking Rat Makes Monkeys Out of Scientists

For quite some time, I have been writing and warning the public about the rampant and dangerous experimentation being conducted on rats — supposedly because the results can somehow be correlated to human behavior. I’ve told you about studies about rat mothers being subjected to stress and female rats being “driven mad for sex” in the search for the perfect aphrodisiac, all leading me to feel guilty about evicting these creatures from the comfort of my home.

It doesn’t surprise me then, to find out that a single rat was able to confound a group of scientists for more than four months. In an attempt to find out how rats might be “eradicated” in areas they have recently migrated to, all these scientists learned is that one rat can evade capture by using only its rat-sized brain against brilliant and technically equipped humans.

Released on a 23 acre rat-free island, the rat and scientists began to role play the plot of “The Most Dangerous Game,” with the unarmed rat leading the heavily fortified scientists on an epic journey. The scientists tried traps, bait and even trailed the rat with dogs, to no avail. Even the rat’s radio collar was of no help. The rat evaded capture.

Whether this game became boring for the rat, or whether the rat began to pine for the company of other rats (who knows if this rat had previously been injected with that “mad for sex” potion), after 10 weeks the rat was tired of being a castaway. (I suspect he was told it was only going to be a three hour tour). Apparently possessed of not only super intelligence, our fugitive rat also must be quite the physical specimen. In a heroic attempt to gain freedom, he swam 400 meters of open sea, breaking all rat swimming records, to get to another island. An island that was, unfortunately, also rat-free. It was on this island that the rat was finally captured.

Personally, I think, unable to find any other rats in the area, he gave himself up. The scientists, obviously clueless as to how the rat outsmarted them, are still patting themselves on the back. “Our results may help in the design of conservative strategies to keep islands free of invasive rodents,” they bragged.

Somehow, I think that is a bit of stretch to conclude from this experiment.


Interesting to note: Not too long ago, three bubonic-plague-infected mice were reported “missing” by a lab in Newark, New Jersey. Despite the efforts of the FBI and various accountants, it could not be determined if the mice had actually escaped, if a mouse-counting error had occurred, or if other mice had eaten them. No trace of the missing mice has ever been found.

I say it again; we have to stop fooling around with rodents.


read it yourself: CNN.com - Cunning rat outsmarts scientists - Oct 21, 2005