# Rats For Dummies: Where did they come from? How smart are rats?



## holidayincambodia (Nov 10, 2009)

*Where Did Rats Come From?*

Rats are native to Asia, and scientists believe that they were brought to Europe by boarding trade ships from their native land. 

"They were first domesticated in England, in the mid 1800's, the Queen Victoria's royal rat catcher, Jack Black, was in the business of controlling the vermin infestation at the time. He was paid for killing rats but somewhere along the line he learned that catching rats alive was more lucrative. 

We are told through historical accounts that he started to breed the "pretty" rats together to sell as pets to the well to do women of the day. Although we'll probably never know the exact qualifications of "pretty" we can assume with great confidence that these rats at the very least included albinos. There are reports that the first albinos date back to two captured in a cemetery by Mr. Jack Black himself. In any event this first step into selective breeding was the cornerstone of rat domestication and variety. "
(from hubpages.com)


*How Smart Are Rats?*

There is no doubt that rats are one of the few species that are practically just as smart as us. Why do you think that scientists favour them so greatly over other animals for experiments? It is because generally, rats are able to acquire great amounts of knowledge in very short periods of time.

_"According to a study published last week by the American Psychological Association, author Juan Toro and his team from Grup de Recerca en Neurociencia Cogniyica (GRNC) in Barcelona, Spain, found rats can distinguish between two rhythmically different languages. This ability, previously only found in humans and Tamarin monkeys, is generally thought to be an important step in the development of language in human infants. It may prove to be a key discovery in the search for the evolutionary origins of human language."_
(from JYI.org)

Rats are the Einsteins of the rodent world. They are just as smart, if not smarter, than most dogs. They learn faster than the average three year old, though, that is not to say that they _smarter_. 
They can be taught many amusing tricks, and they can even master mazes and agility courses at astonishing speeds. Some of these tricks are Fetch and Rat Basket-Ball. Agilty courses can be set up from small toys, household objects, or wood/cardboard built jumps, ladders, etc. They are easy to modify and work with, and the difficulty of the course can be changed to suit the rats current intelligence level.


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