### animal | vertebrate | mammal | rodent:

Rat
* Domesticated rats make ideal pets for anyone, especially children.
* Many rats are nocturnal.
* Most rats adapt to areas
  - urban areas
  - appear in holes
  - are located on nests
* Most rats attract prey
  - avoid predators
* Most rats carry bacteria
  - diseases
  - fleas
  - parasites
  - chew holes
  - come from mothers
  - confine their roaming to areas they grew accustomed to while young
* Most rats consume fat diets
  - depend on food
  - display peculiar behavior
* Most rats drink sugar water
* Most rats eat crops
  - dog food
* Most rats eat dry dog food
  - green vegetation
  - high fat diets
  - meals
  - proteins
  - regular diets
  - rich food
  - solid food
  - waste
* Most rats emerge at nights
  - from nests
* Most rats excrete concentrate urine
  - exhibit renal diseases
  - expose to sunlight
* Most rats feed on cholesterol diets
  - vitamin diets
  - find food
  - get diets
  - give birth to rats
  - go to holes
* Most rats has-part bones
  - eyes
  - glands
  - kidneys
  - legs
  - livers
  - marrow
  - tissue
* Most rats have brown fur
  - bushy tails
  - clean bathroom habits and never soil their bed
  - coats
  - discharge
  - ears
  - eyesights
  - grey coats
* Most rats have long bushy tails
  - noses
  - offspring
  - physical capability
  - poor eyesights
  - pouches
  - senses
  - soybean meals
  - teeth
  - thymus glands
  - hear prey
  - kill rats
* Most rats live in areas
  - cities
  - climates
  - colonies
  - communities
  - countries
  - houses
  - regions
  - small colonies
  - temperate climates
* Most rats live in underground burrows
  - walls
  - wood areas
  - make urine
  - move eyes
  - occur in environments
  - pose threats
* Most rats possess enzymes
  - hormones
* Most rats prefer arboreal habitats
  - produce urine
* Most rats reach maturity
  - sexual maturity
  - receive nutrition
  - rely on senses
* Most rats require food
  - oxygen
* Most rats return to a fixed place of feeding
  - seek food
  - spread diseases
  - steal food
* Most rats suffer extinction
  - widespread extinction
* Most rats survive in deserts
* Most rats thrive in cities
* Most rats transmit bacteria
  - viruses
  - use water
  - walk on paws
* Some rat kangaroos live in rainforests.
* Some rats affect spermatogenesises
  - also have a preference for meats
* Some rats appear in countries
  - islands
* Some rats are inside nests
  - located in houses
  - attract cats
* Some rats avoid daytime heat
  - people
  - become food
  - can be trap shy
* Some rats carry cells
  - mutation
  - organisms
* Some rats cause injuries
  - structural damage
  - destroy vegetation
  - die in fire
* Some rats eat bait
  - frogs
  - grain
  - grasshoppers
  - kangaroo rats
  - poison bait
  - seeds
  - snails
  - substances
  - types
* Some rats enter structures
* Some rats feed in fields
  - intact proteins
  - kidney beans
* Some rats feed on insects
* Some rats feed raw beans
  - follow rats
  - gain nutrition
  - get pneumonia
  - go to water
  - has-part cortexes
* Some rats have a greater increase in vascular resistance than others
  - abundances
  - body burdens
  - concentration
  - diabetes
  - levels
  - lice
  - no hair
  - particular taste
  - symptoms
  - hear birds
* Some rats increase excretion
  - sodium excretion
* Some rats invade burrows
  - homes
* Some rats kill birds
  - tuataras
* Some rats live for months
  - several months
* Some rats live in Africa
  - attics
  - basements
  - parks
  - societies
  - trees
  - trenches
  - up to months
  - lose weight
* Some rats make litter
  - secretion
  - play in environments
* Some rats possess babies
  - glucose
  - ovaries
* Some rats prefer burrows
  - fruit
  - to remain perched on the owner's shoulders
  - provide proteins
* Some rats reach normal size
  - population size
  - stable population size
* Some rats receive diets
  - dioxide
  - substrate
  - venom
* Some rats require environments
  - result in excretion
  - seek water
  - serve as food
  - spread death
* Some rats steal eggs
  - survive in areas
  - thrive in cages
  - transmit diseases
* accumulate red porphryn around the eyes when they fail to groom properly.
* acquire the infection by ingesting the insects.
* actually have the ability to laugh.
* also bite people
  - chew on electrical wiring and structural supports in buildings
  - collect seeds and grasses
  - come in different sizes
* also damage containers and packaging materials in which foods and feed are stored
  - crops, contaminate stock feed, damage buildings and carry diseases
  - develop cancer when fed with the dyestuff aniline, which occurs naturally in carrots
  - do damage by eating out the pulp of the ripe coffee cherry, causing the bean to drop
  - eat nuts and vegetative parts of the plant
  - gnaw to gain entrance or to obtain food
  - have thicker tails than mice
  - love chewing on cardboard boxes
  - prey directly on the native island deer mouse
* always squeeze through crevices if confined.
* are Omnivorous, but prefer meats
  - show a preference for grains, fruits, nuts and vegetables
* are a known carrier
  - public health issue- spreading disease and damaging property
  - threat to rare plants because they eat the seeds, seedlings, and bark of young plants
  - viable food source
  - active throughout the day, mice have a tendency to be slightly more nocturnal
* are also a problem in many areas, for they eat the cane and introduce pathogens
  - pets for humans
  - an appropriate model because bST is biologically active in rats when injected
  - angels with fur
  - apparently as vulnerable as cows
  - approximately ten times bigger than mice
  - born head or tail first, both are normal
  - carriers of fleas, which are associated with typhus and plague
  - clean animals as long as they are provided with good clean bedding
  - color blind
  - communal animals
  - community dwellers
  - creatures of habit
  - dirty, stinky, slimy and they have bald tails
  - easier to exclude than mice because rats a typically larger
  - endemic in Africa, and as such resistant to most tropical diseases
  - everywhere with roaches
  - excellent climbers, avoid open spaces, and use urine spotting as a territorial marker
  - fairly opportunistic feeders
  - fascinating animals, they survive in environments where nothing else can
  - generally very friendly to other cage mates, particularly with females
  - good at auditory tasks, pigeons at visual tasks
  - highly sensitive, whereas mice are very resistant
  - incredibly hardy animals who have never shown any problem adjusting to change
  - infinitely more intelligent than mice, and completely different in almost every respect
  - intelligent creatures and can be trained many tricks
* are intelligent, and they quickly learn to press the pedal under the lamp that is lit
  - curious, and sensitive animals
  - social animals that can make wonderful pets
  - large muroid rodents , mice are small ones
  - mammals
  - monophyodont, which means that they have one set of teeth during their lifetime
* are more popular for tests relating to intelligence , learning , and illegal drugs
  - recent predators
  - most common, but dogs, fish and birds can be infected
  - much like dogs and cats in that they have their own unique characters
  - neophobic, which means they have a fear of new objects
* are nocturnal animals
  - in their habits and can see better at night
  - nocturnal, with their peak activity at dusk or before dawn
* are often in horror stories and movies because they are associated with death and disease
  - suspicious of new or unfamiliar objects
* are omnivores , they eat lots of different types of food
  - and can eat almost anything
* are omnivorous, aggressive, intelligent, adaptable, and extremely fecund
  - which means they eat both plant and animal material
  - one of the most unreasonably denigrated species
  - present in almost all settlements
  - primarily nocturnal in habit and they are cautious
  - relatively resistant to the cardiac actions of scilliroside
  - rodents and belong to the same family as mice
  - sexually mature at two to four months and live about one year
  - small programs, each responsible for doing a single task
* are social and smart animals that can be trained
  - thrive in same-sex pairs or groups
  - creatures who prefer to have a buddy or two
  - still the subjects of choice when it comes to brain lesions
  - strongly nocturnal, so the best hunting is at dusk and after dark
  - super-cautious animals
* are the definitive hosts, and the only hosts in which the adult stage of the nematode occurs
  - natural host for the bacteria, but infection can occur in mice
  - primo rodents to have around
  - three-dimensional objects
  - ubiquitous, but much more numerous in some environments
  - unfortunately very prone to respiratory diseases and tumors
  - various medium sized rodents
* are very cautious feeders and usually avoid strange food
  - curious and like to explore their surroundings
  - intelligent and require a stimulating environment to explore and play in
* are very social and form close bonds with their owners
  - get lonely by themselves
  - wary animals, easily frightened by unfamiliar or strange noises
* are, perhaps, the most widely used nonhuman animal in biomedical and psychological research.
* avoid a strange food until they smell it on the breath of a den-mate
  - obstacles
* bathe themselves, usually six times a day or more.
* begin foraging soon after dark and most of their food gathering occurs before midnight.
* behave as if they have the capacity for being fearful, surprised, or sexually aroused.
* benefit from eating a variety of vegetables, fruits, and and other fresh foods.
* breed all year around, with a couple of peaks
* build nests from soft material such as paper, cloth, or straw.
* can also become obese from overfeeding of treats
  - eat smaller pets
  - have respiratory problems
* can be either albino or colored, a trait that is controlled by a single gene
  - quite agile and can run up almost any vertical surface and also are capable of swimming
  - successful in almost everything they try to do
* can be very ferocious at times
  - noisy as well by when they squeak, whistle, and chirp
  - become a serious problem in communities bordering farmland
* can carry disease and small vermin
  - cause immense damage to food stuffs and buildings
  - chew through wood, plaster, hard plastic, and soft metal
  - climb brick walls, trees, and telephone poles, and walk across telephone lines
  - detect poison mixed with food in as little as two parts per million
  - eat chocolate
  - experience grief after the death of a companion just as humans can
  - fit through a whole the size of a quarter
* can get into very small places
  - respiratory infections very easily
  - their legs caught and hurt themselves
  - have about four to seven litters a year, and the litters consist of two to seven young
* can have several nest sites
  - reasons for breathing problems
* can jump three feet in the air from a flat surface and leap four feet horizontally
  - straight up, and four feet outwards, from a standing position
  - up to three feet and climb wires and pipe very well
  - jump, climb, swim and dig expertly
  - potentially harbor salmonellosis
  - subsist on dog droppings when no other food is available
  - survive longer without water than camels
  - synthesize vitamin C in their livers
  - train humans to do simple tricks
  - upset the birds by disturbing their habitat
  - usually detect subtle changes in their environment
* can, and do, kill mice, a behavior known as muricide.
* carry Malaria
* carry disease and plague
  - thrive on human garbage
  - diseases that can be fatal to both humans and animals
  - fleas that spread human diseases such as bubonic plague and typhus
  - many diseases and germs
  - off baby chicks and roll away eggs
  - the plague-transmitting flea
  - their young for twenty-two days
* cause billions of dollars worth of damage throughout the world each year
  - structural damage to buildings by burrowing and gnawing
  - on neglected corpses
* chew through cord
  - power cord
  - wiring and they cause extensive damage to electrical systems
* chewing on wires can cause house fires.
* climb the trees, hide among the branches, gnaw the bark until the branches die.
* come in a variety of colors and require a larger cage and more attention than smaller rodents
  - many different colours, markings, body types and temperments
  - two varieties
* commonly groom each other and sleep together.
* constantly urinate and defecate while traveling and nesting.
* consume amounts
  - kernels
  - privet fruit
* continue to be a problem in many cane growing areas.
* defecate somewhat indiscriminately within their territories but mostly where they feed.
* deprived of all sleep stages live only about three weeks
  - survive only about three weeks
* develop tendencies.
* die from internal hemorrhage, but there is no evidence that same effect produced in humans.
* dig burrows
  - deep and long burrows
* dislike burrowing in loose gravel.
* display behavior
  - courtship behavior
* do have some binocular ability that is limited to distant objects.
* drink more if they have subordinate social status or early social isolation
* eat and urinate on human and animal food and carry many diseases
  - every last seed of a plant
  - much more food at a single feeding than a mouse
  - our food and contaminate it with hair, feces, and urine
* eat the fruits as described above
  - seeds and some of the leaves
  - undefended eggs and defenseless young
* emerge from holes in bedroom walls, terrorizing infants in their cribs
* enjoy some shady sunlight but are nocturnal creatures.
* enter buildings
* exhibit actions
  - enterohepatic recirculation of many chemicals
  - reaction
* exposed to PBBs develop cancer
  - high levels did, however, have an increase in birth defects
* find a tortoise eggs quite a delicacy and frequently destroy nests
* follow waste.
* generally are larger than mice, and they can be bald, scaly and cylinder-shaped.
* grind their teeth when relaxed and happy or very stressed.
* harbor rabies but shown no symptoms.
  - heads
* hate being trapped in small spaces.
* have a flap in their stomach that covers the esophagus and prevents both vomiting and burping
  - life span of about a year in the wild and breed often during their short life
  - normal lifespan ranging from two to five years, though three years is typical
  - phenomenon like menopause which is called estropause
  - pointed snout with long whiskers, rounded ears, and a long tail
  - single pair of incisor teeth, with enamel absent on one surface
  - very important role in the environment
* have an amazing ability to squeeze through very small openings
  - os penis or os clitoridis associated with external genitalia
  - bellybuttons
  - blunt noses
  - cannulas placed in jugular vein, common bile duct, and bladder
  - estrous cycles throughout the year, each lasting just five days
  - expression
  - fleas that carry disease
  - great respect for their parents and dote on their own children
  - higher metabolic rates, and generally metabolize drugs much more quickly than humans
* have keen senses of hearing, smell, taste and touch
  - taste, hearing, and sense of smell
  - lots of babies
  - naked tails and are much larger than a mouse
  - no gall bladder - digest fats differently Humans have a gall bladder
  - poor eyesight and depend on hearing and their excellent sense of smell
* have poor eyesight, especially the pink eyed varieties
  - pink-eyed varieties
  - vision
  - powerful teeth and can gnaw through very hard materials
  - relatively small amounts of cartilage
  - scruffy fur
  - several unique biological characteristics
  - the ability to swim up toilets through pipes
  - two distinct cervices and uterine bodies
  - very high reproductive rates
* hear people
  - sound
* hunt for food.
* includes brains
  - cytoplasm
  - faces
  - nuclei
  - sterna
  - vacuoles
  - vertebrate feet
* inhabit habitats
  - niches
* keep indoor runways, or well-used paths, free of cobwebs, debris, and dust.
* learn fast
  - food selection behavior in a group context
* leave eggshell pieces unevenly chewed, and eat and drink the contents.
* like to chew
  - live as close as possible to their food
  - sleep in piles
  - use regular paths or runways along walls or behind debris
  - burrows, normally at the edge of foundations of walls
  - sewers and in most campus-run housing
  - less than a year, which for most animals relatively short life span
  - to around two years of age
* living in poor conditions often have problems with parasites themselves.
* look for harborage in such conditions and rats contribute to disease and decay.
* love hiding places and easily accessible food sources
  - human food
  - sugarcane and rats are nocturnal - and curious
  - to be held and cuddled
* love to eat snails
  - the seeds while still on the tree and on the ground
  - snuggle and be petted
* make nests out of whatever materials they have available
  - sounds when climbing, gnawing, clawing and moving
  - their homes close to where their food is
  - wonderful pets when they have been carefully bred and well-socialised
* mark territory.
* may have tendencies.
* memorize pathways and use the same routes habitually.
* multiply four times as fast as cats.
* need diets
  - shelter
* normally prefer to have cage mates.
* occurring in sewers are generally Norway rats.
* often feed on iguana eggs, cats eat baby iguanas, and goats eat cacti
  - get tumors, especially along their mammary chains
* often live in basements or any dark area, or burrow under ground often under front stoops
  - very close association with dogs and cats
* only live about two years.
* open mouths.
* play together by wrestling and chewing on each other just like puppies.
* play, groom each other, and cuddle up to sleep together, keeping each other warm.
* possess cells
  - cages with solid instead of wire floors
  - fresh food, but can survive on rotting edibles or even dog feces
  - it to food
  - low concentrations of alcohol over high
  - to feed in and around homes, restaurants and businesses
  - water with caffeine in it when given the choice between that and pure water
* primarily use their whiskers to recognise objects and their eyes for orientation.
* produce a distinctive musky odor
* quickly become accustomed to regularly repeated sounds
  - learn safe travel routes through yards to avoid terrestrial predators
  - puberty very young at six to eight weeks of age
  - predominately on smell, taste, touch, and hearing as opposed to vision
* represent one step leading to treatment in humans.
* require about one ounce of food a day and a half ounce of water
  - larger habitats
* respond to food.
* respond to tickling by emitting ultrasonic whistles outside the range of human hearing
  - whistles outside our range of hearing
* return to nests.
* roam streets.
* run spontaneously in the wheel, even more when they are hungry.
* see poorly, relying more on smell, taste, touch, and hearing.
  - out locations
* show greatest activity the first half of the night, if food is abundant
  - interest
  - unimpaired learning within minutes after recovery from single bolus propofol anesthesia
  - leptospirosis by urinating in domestic water supplies
* synthesize vitamin C in the liver from glucose, using an enzyme called L-gulono oxidase.
* tell whether other rats are part of their family or social group by smell.
* tend to be cautious and mice are more curious
  - most active at night
  - congregate in areas where food is stored and where humans sleep, in search of scraps
  - eat more at night, but day time feeding is also common
  - feed in one or two locations
  - have a slightly longer life span compared with mice
  - increase their running over days and their eating is inadequate
  - live in large groups that have dominant individuals
* test their food.
  - when they live with other rats
* travel along walls and avoid open spaces as much as possible.
* undergo stereotaxic surgery and an electrode is implanted in the right lateral habenula.
* urinate in areas they frequent.
* use any method to get to food, water or harbourage
  - motion parallax to estimate depth
* use their keen sense of smell to locate food items and apparently to recognize other rats
  - to locate food items and to recognize other rats
  - vision for shorter distances, too
* usually construct their nests near food and water
  - live for around two years, although some make it to three and beyond
* visit fewer food sites than mice
+ Palindrome, Examples of Palindromes, Sentences: Linguistics
  * Rats live on no evil star.
  * The 'rat' is a medium-sized rodent. Rats are omnivores, they eat lots of different types of food. Most rats are in the genus 'Rattus'. There are about 56 different species of rats.
  * Usually rats are bigger than mice. Rats are large muroid rodents, mice are small ones. The muroid family is very large and complex. Examples that illustrate this are the Pack rat and the Cotton mouse.
+ Rat, Carriers of disease
  * Rats can carry diseases. Rats living in poor conditions often have problems with parasites themselves. Not many diseases carried by rats can spread to humans. One of those is called Leptospirosis, another one is the plague
  * Rats are 'opportunists'. If they have the choice between a food that will need a fight to get, and another food that will not, they take the food that does not need a fight. For this reason, rats have lived close to humans for a long time. Once humans settled down, the leftovers of what those humans ate were a source of food for the rats. So the rats followed.
  * Rats are present in almost all settlements. In cities, they often live in the sewers
  - Pets: Old World rats and mice :: Omnivores
  * Fancy rats are domesticated brown rats. People have kept rats as pets since the 19th century. Rats are social and smart animals that can be trained. They also like to play with toys. Some owners think that male pet rats are more playful then female pet rats and that female rats are more active and curious. Pet rats do not act the same as wild rats. They do not have more diseases than other common pets.
  * Female rats are smaller than male rats. They can be all one color or have spots or other coloring. Some rats have no hair. These are called hairless rats
  - Scientific research
  * Brown rats are often used as model organisms. Genetic research is usually done with mice, though. Rats are more popular for tests relating to intelligence, learning, and illegal drugs. This is mostly because rats have a high intelligence, ingenuity, aggressiveness, and adaptability. Their psychology seems to be very similar to human psychology. Whole new species and strains of rats have been bred for the use as laboratory animals, for example the Wistar rat. Much of the genome of 'Rattus norvegicus' has been sequenced