I’m watching a programme about rats on the History Channel right now. For some reason, it brings to mind certain Scotswomen I know. . .
Fun facts I’ve learned so far:
* Rats can taste 1 part of poison in 20 million parts of food.
* Rats jaws can bite with the same force as a crocodile’s.
* Rats have weak esophagus muscles, so they can’t vomit.
* Medical rats sell for $10 to $400 each.
* Rat’s incisor teeth grow 2.5 mm per week.
* 25% of building fires may be caused at least in part by rats.
* Rats destroy approximately 20% of our food worldwide.
* US food production laws limit the amount of rat hair in peanut butter to no more than 2 hairs per 500 grams.
* Starting at three months of age, the average Norway rat can start making litters of eight young every month.
* Not being able to sweat, rats use their hairless tails to regulate their body temperature by releasing excess body heat through it. They can constrict or expand the blood vessels in their tails to release more or less heat.
* Rats can swim half a mile, tread water for three days, hold their breath for three minutes, sprint at up to 24 miles per hour, jump horizontally 50 inches from a standing start, and survive a fall of 50 fifty.
* There are 70 diseases carried by rats that are communicable to humans.
* 500,000 households have pet rats.
* Rat eyesight is about 20/600.
