Comment on Rats by tanneraustin

That’s a very good point about most of us not seeing rats in the context we associate them. But, then again, most of us have never been in space to see that the continents are arranged the way we see them on a map, either.

Comment on Ratting Around by kcdrews

I think that you don’t necessarily need to cast rats in a negative light in order to use them as research animals. Rats don’t have to be demonized, they just have to be used. For that I agree we have to sacrifice any potential rights they may have. When it comes to the difference with dogs, I think that if we discovered tomorrow that dogs have the exact same immune system down to each individual carbon atom as a human being, we wouldn’t hesitate at all before going full scale on using them as lab animals. I think eventually we’d have a new breed of dog – the term lab dog might not instantly point to labrador retrievers!

Comment on Ratting Around by kcdrews

I think that you don’t necessarily need to cast rats in a negative light in order to use them as research animals. Rats don’t have to be demonized, they just have to be used. For that I agree we have to sacrifice any potential rights they may have. When it comes to the difference with dogs, I think that if we discovered tomorrow that dogs have the exact same immune system down to each individual carbon atom as a human being, we wouldn’t hesitate at all before going full scale on using them as lab animals. I think eventually we’d have a new breed of dog – the term lab dog might not instantly point to labrador retrievers!

Comment on Rats and Mice by mollyo92

I’m glad I read your post, and I also agree that you pose some excellent questions. I didn’t consider the similarities of humans and rats as clearly until I read your thoughts, and it’s certainly true. I think I spent too much time making broad generalizations to realize that rats do wreck havoc on their environment in the same way humans do. However, rats follow humans and don’t tend to initiate the destruction, at least in my understanding, that has to be points for team rats, right?

Comment on Rats by mollyo92

I definitely find your associations with rats interesting. I agree that rats have a certain picture in my mind, but isn’t it interesting that many of us have this image without ever having seen a real rat?? I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen, as you mention, a rat running into a sewer, other than in movies. These ideas are so greatly intertwined into our culture that we’re not even sure what their origins are anymore. And as you stated, in reality, rats have contributed so much to scientific research. And even in that context, they’re often portrayed in movies as becoming mutants or getting violently ill when treated with a harmful toxin. And the image doesn’t horrify us because they’re only dirty, useless rats, right? I think wrong, as I believe you do, too.

Comment on Ratting Around by loomispw

I like this argument, and I made it in a different way in a different comment, however, mice share a lot of the same qualities of rats we dislike, and we don’t hate them the same way we hate rats. I think how we view animals does make a huge difference and mice are loved for their cuteness.

Comment on From Rat King to Lab Rat, and everything in between by loomispw

I think one of the reasons we dislike rats is because of how much they resemble us. They fall into a type of uncanny valley. One of the interesting parallels is that as rats are forced to live in closer quarters their behavior changes, resulting in greater deviancies from the norm. These deviancies included greater aggression and greater social withdrawal. This could be seen as similar to how higher density populations exhibit a higher rate of psychological distress.

http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/feb/25/city-stress-mental-health-rural-kind