Current Biology Vol 19 No 19

R884

In environments where food is

artist, Luke Jerram, also raises the Quick guide abundant, such as urban areas or
issue of how the artificial colouring garbage dumps, rat colonies are
of scientific imagery affects our generally large, strangers are not
understanding of phenomena. Norway rats excluded from established social
Jerram is exploring the links groups and males compete for
between the artworks’ beauty, what Bennett G. Galef females in estrous. Within colonies
they represent and their impact on dominance hierarchies are formed
humanity. The works are currently with larger animals generally dominant
on show at the Smithfield Gallery in Why ‘Norway’ rat? The Norway or over smaller ones.
London and the swine flu virus has brown rat, as it is sometimes called, Each colony inhabits a burrow
been acquired for display by the is not always brown, did not originate system from which foragers emerge
Wellcome Trust. in Norway and was classified first at dusk, and to which they return
The question of pseudo-colouring as Mus and later as Epymus before between foraging bouts that generally
in biomedicine and its use for the Linnean classification as Rattus extend through the hours of darkness,
science communicative purposes norvegicus by Berkenhout in 1769. peaking at dawn and at dusk. These
is a vast and complex subject, he The appellation ‘Norway rat’ derives burrow systems serve as information
believes. from Berkenhout’s assumption that the centers where foragers can exchange
In response to this, Jerram has first R. norvegicus arrived in the UK on information about the current
created a series of transparent, lumber ships from Norway, although availability of foods. Although the
three-dimensional, sculptures. R. norvegicus was probably not main foods of rats are grains, they
The sculptures were designed in present in Norway in mid-18th century, are opportunistic foragers reported
consultation with virologists from when the species first invaded Britain. diving for mollusks in Italy, feeding
the University of Bristol using a Wild R. norvegicus, the forebears of all on sparrows and ducks in Germany
combination of different scientific laboratory rat strains whether albino, and capturing fingerling trout in North
photographs and models. hooded, black or agouti, are thought American hatcheries.
Jerram said: “It’s great to be to have originated somewhere in Asia,
exploring the edges of scientific possibly in the plains of northern How were rats first domesticated?
understanding and visualisation China. So, perhaps, we should call Domestication of Norway rats
of a virus. Scientists aren’t able them Chinese rats. (Figure 1) has been hypothesized to
to answer many of the questions have occurred in the 19th century as a
I ask them, such as how the RNA What are wild Norway rats like? by-product of the ‘sport’ of rat baiting.
is exactly fitted within the capsid? Adult male Norway rats weigh an In one version, a large number of rats
At the moment camera technology average of 350 g and adult females was placed in a pit with a dog, usually
cannot answer these questions about 250 g. Although adult males a terrier of one breed or another, and
either. “We can photograph a virus weighing 500 g or more have spectators wagered on the number
with an electron microscope, but been captured in the wild, reports of rats the dog would kill in a fixed
its sometimes difficult to see what of rats as big as cats are either period of time. The record set in
is going on inside it because the wildly exaggerated or refer to very 1862 by Jacko, a cross between an
technology is at the very edge of its small cats. Norway rats are most English bulldog and a black and tan
capability and the resolution is not successful in temperate zones and terrier, was 60 rats killed in 2 minutes
quite good enough. So you end up are largely replaced in the tropics by and 42 seconds. The suggestion has
having to jump from what you can the lighter, more gracile black rat, been made that uncommon albino
see to what you can infer from the Rattus rattus, and Polynesian rat, rats, captured during trapping of
chemical modelling,” he says. Rattus excelans. In areas such as the thousands required for baiting,
“There’s sometimes a gap and a northern Montana, Alberta, Greenland were displayed outside betting
certain amount of guesswork, and and northern Siberia that have establishments, and that these albino
that edginess is quite interesting extremely harsh winters, Norway rats rats became the ancestors of at
for me.” can survive only by overwintering in least some of today’s domesticated
“I’m also pushing the boundaries human habitations, though colonies of strains. Domesticated albino rats
of glassblowing. Some of my Norway rats living outdoors have been were first used in 1895 in laboratory
designs are simply too fragile reported in both South Georgia Island studies of nutrition at Clark University
and gravity would cause them to (53` S) and Nome, Alaska (52` N). in Worcester, MA and 5 years later in
collapse under their own weight.” Female rats become sexually Willard Small’s studies, also at Clark,
He hopes visitors will get a mature at about three months of age, of the behavior of rats in mazes. The
sense of the beauty of virology. can breed throughout the year and title of the horror film “Willard” is
“But there is also that fascinating can produce as many as five litters unlikely to have been a coincidence.
tension between something that that average six or seven pups per
is very beautiful but which is also year. Annual mortality in the wild is What are rats good for? Norway
dangerous and having a terrible estimated at 95 percent, with few rats have played an important role
impact on humanity.” individuals surviving for more than in both biochemical and behavioral
one year, although in the laboratory, studies. For example, classic work
Nigel Williams genetically wild rats can live to three on behavioral regulation of the intake
years of age. of food, water, and both macro- and
Magazine
R885

of troublesome rat populations, total

extermination of pest populations of
rats is difficult indeed. Wild rats are
cautious animals, avoiding contact
with any new object or food in their
environment. Individual variation
in such “neophobia” assures that
catching or poisoning the last rats
in a population is difficult, and the
ability of a small number of survivors
to replenish a reduced population in
short order makes long-term control
of the size of pest populations
demanding. Further, rats are able
climbers, burrowers and swimmers,
making their long-term exclusion
from cleared areas challenging. The
province of Alberta, Canada has
been successful in eliminating rats
because of restricted invasion routes
and a harsh climate that requires rats
to overwinter in human habitations
where they are particularly vulnerable
to control measures.
Figure 1. Domesticated Norway rats, if handled from an early age, make affectionate pets and
The neophobic behavior of rats
can even be taught to walk on a leash. together with their remarkable ability
to learn to associate ingestion of a
new food with subsequent illness has
micro-nutrients used rats as subjects. of mice have markedly reduced the led to development of anticoagulant
Pioneering studies of circadian importance of rats in behavioral rodenticides which, because they
rhythms, play, sexual behavior, research. Although the study of rat are slow acting, have the potential to
maternal behavior and aggression behavior and its physical substrate circumvent the rat’s ability to learn to
and their physical substrates were continues in numerous laboratories, avoid repeated ingestion of fast-acting
all heavily dependent on work with currently fewer than 10 percent of the toxins when aversive effects are
rats. Studies of development, animal papers in the Journal of Comparative experienced before lethal quantities
learning and, more recently, animal Psychology in 2001 employed rats as are eaten. Unfortunately, some rats,
cognition have also relied heavily on subjects. sometimes called “super rats” in
data from Norway rats. During the popular articles, have developed
1930s and 1940s, when studies of rat What are rats bad for? Though genetic resistance to warfarin and
behavior peaked, more than 60 percent precise figures are not available, other first-generation anticoagulants.
of all articles published in the leading Norway rats and their congeners The arms race continues.
animal psychology journal of the are rumored to destroy 15 percent
time, the Journal of Comparative and or more of agricultural production Where can I find out more?
Barnett, S.A. (1975). The Rat: A Study in Behavior.
Physiological Psychology, reported in some Third World countries. In (Chicago: Chicago University Press).
studies that used rats as subjects. addition to their well known roles as Barnett, S.A. (2001). The Story of Rats: Their
Impact on Us, and Our Impact on Them.
reservoirs of microorganisms that (Crows Nest, NSW, Australia: Allen & Unwin).
Why were rats so popular in studies cause a number of diseases (such as Berdoy, M. and Drickamer, L.C. (2007). Rats and
of behavior? There were a number Weil’s disease, rat-bite fever, Q fever, mice. In Rodent Societies: An Ecological and
Evolutionary Perspective. J.O. Wolff and P.W.
of factors. Domesticated rats breed trichinosis and so on), despoilers of Sherman, eds. (Chicago: Chicago University
readily in the laboratory throughout stored foodstuffs and invaders of Press), pp 380–392.
Calhoun, J.B. (1963). The Ecology and Sociology
the year and thrive on relatively cheap, human habitations, rats are also a of the Norway Rat. Public Health Service
low-protein diets. They are easy to major threat to many avian species, Publication no. 1008. Bethesda, USA: US
handle and behave normally in the especially those that breed on islands. Department of Health.
Meehan, A.P. (1984). Rats and Mice: Their Biology
presence of humans. Further, the The introduction of rats into areas and Control. (East Grinstead, UK: Rentokil
Behaviorists’ assumption that general historically devoid of mammalian Ltd.).
Telle, H.J. (1966). Beitrag zur Kenntnis der
laws of behavior could be studied predators, and consequently inhabited Verhaltensweise von Ratten, vergleichend
in any species made convenience by birds without appropriate defenses, dargestellt bei Rattus rattus und Rattus
an important determinant of choice has had disastrous consequences for norvegicus. Z. Ange. Zool. 53, 129–196.
Whishaw, I.Q. (2005). The Behavior of the
species for behavioral research. eggs and young, particularly those of Laboratory Rat. (Oxford: Oxford University
Changes in the interests of behavioral ground-nesting avian species. Press).
scientists, together with the marked
Department of Psychology, Neuroscience &
increase in the cost of breeding and Why are rats so hard to Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton,
maintaining rats in the laboratory, and exterminate? Although it is not Ontario, Canada L8S 4K.
development of knock-out strains difficult to reduce temporarily the size E-mail: [email protected]