Caltrops - Biohazard: Code Veronica





	[quote name="Senor Barborito MetaFilter Post"]MonkeySaltedNuts: Laboratory <i>anything</i> are generally docile wimps with a terribly short lifespan, little intelligence and horrendous eyesight. They're bred that way (and fortunately for cancer research most rats naturally die of tumors regardless of what they ingest). In my experience you're very lucky to get lab rats older than 2.5 years. Pet rats from good breeders stand a fair chance of making 4 years. Rats bred specifically as pets are very smart, but it's not the same kind of smart - it's more like a dog smart than an ornery smart. They learn their names, they can be taught simple tricks, etc. Like dogs they can (although I've not seen it often) 'get' basic social indicators like humans pointing at something to call attention to it, etc. Take all that potential, then multiply the natural selection factor by a ton and focusing strictly on survival via constitution/intelligence - and you start to see why sewer rats can be all kinds of horrendous-astonishing. While we're on the subject, the role of rats as disease carriers has been greatly exaggerated - loquacious and I did a number of posts debunking the common myths (Black plague, etc.) in the last rat thread. posted by Ryvar at 12:39 PM PST on April 1 [/quote]