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February 29, 2008
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Chinese New Year celebrations may have ended, but the Year of the Rat is just beginning, creating the perfect opportunity to celebrate this often overlooked and misunderstood rodent.
By Michelle Jacmenovic
According to the Chinese lunar calendar, 2008 is the Year of the Rat and marks the start of a new 12 year lunar cycle.
From February 1st through 15th 2008, lively, colorful and joyous celebrations, family gatherings, feasts, and parades ushered in the Chinese New Year.
The rat traditionally symbolizes prosperity; therefore, this year can be looked forward to as one of good fortune, happiness and hope.
Rats Deserve a Break!
As honorary animal for this year, the rat will be the focus of a series of online articles dedicated to highlighting issues that affect these creatures, including rats used in research; pet rats; rats in the wild and humane wildlife control; and the use of rats in education.
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The Chinese
Lunar Calendar |
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The 12 lunar years are represented by 12 animals popular in Chinese culture. These include, in order of their place in the lunar calendar, Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Ram, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig.
Each animal is associated with certain personality traits which are said to also be found in persons born during the animal's lunar year.
People born during the Year of the Rat are believed to be natural leaders, charming, charismatic and hardworking. They are intelligent and easily acquire wealth and power. |
All will contain useful information for anyone concerned with animal welfare, dispel common myths about rats, and uncover the natural admiration people have for this intelligent and charming animal. Check out the first article in this series, Rats Used in Medical Research and Testing.
What Makes a Rat a Rat?
In Chinese culture, the rat is seen as a brilliant opportunist. In fact, legend has it that in order to ensure top billing in the Chinese Lunar Calendar the rat tricked other animals, in particular the cat and the ox, so he could be the first to appear before Buddha on New Year's Day.
Nevertheless, there are many rat fans among the human population—and for good reason. Check out the following facts about rats.
Did You Know?
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Rats are highly sociable and make very affectionate and playful pets.
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Rats can be trained to use a litter box and to respond to their name.
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Dirty rat? Not exactly. Rats keep themselves very clean, washing and grooming their fur nearly as often as cats.
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Rats can express joy by 'laughing' with a distinct chirping sound. Pet rats sometimes laugh when tickled by their human caregiver. Rats who laugh prefer to be around other rats who laugh.
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Rats can have many different colors of fur including silver, albino, grey, and blond.
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Rats are very intelligent and demonstrate highly developed problem solving skills.
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Rats are no more likely than other wild mammals to carry zoonotic illnesses, and occurrences of human illness caused by native rat species are extremely rare.
Those Sneaky Rats!
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Rats are curious and intelligent. |
Despite the bad rap often endured by rats, these little animals have somehow managed to sneak into popular and even leading roles in movies, cartoons and children's literature. Some of these characters and stories are:
- Remy, a very ambitious rat full of dreams of becoming a fine chef in the popular film "Ratatouille."
- Templeton, the gluttonous, but very comical rat in the well known children's story, "Charlotte's Web."
- "Mrs. Frisby and The Rats of NIMH"—the story of a group of highly intelligent escaped research rats setting out to start their own independent colony.
- Splinter, the aged and wise sensei rat who advised and trained the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in ninjitsu.
For further reading, check out "The Story of Rats," by S. Anthony Barnett.
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