TulsaPets Magazine March 2023

March /April 2023 • TulsaPets 39 L et’s talk rat. OK, I know you just shuddered; I can anticipate readers who are squeamish about all rodents. (Really? Including capybaras? WOW! That big? Oops, I digress…) But let’s face it, most people find mice — and their much larger cousins, rats — to be somewhere between creepy and disgusting. This is a shame. True, these creatures can cer- tainly trigger strong reactions from any of us — in particular, rats. Watching them raid your bird feeder feels pretty invasive; hearing them in the walls is even worse. True, they spread multiple diseases, and tons of stories have cast them as THE bad guys (excepting Ratatouille, which is genius). Many also claim that feral cats prevent an overpopulation of rodents (actually, that honor goes more to snakes and owls). I’m not here to help with pest control, but hear me out: Rats are crucial to our survival in many ways. Don’t “Pshaw!” me — just keep reading. Meet Oklahoma’s Rats Oklahoma has three kinds of rats. I’ll start with the smallest in size and population and then size up. 1 The eastern woodrat , also called the pack rat, is a species that prefers a diet of fruits, veg- etables, and bugs. They do little damage to crops and are endangered in several states because of pre- dation, food shortage, loss of habitat, and possibly disease. Solitary and territorial, they received their nickname because they cache much more than food; woodrats gather corncobs, paper, shotgun shells, cans, and bones as material to build their dens and then store dry food inside in the fall. 2 The black rat , a rodent whose relatives most probably sailed in from India (where a Hin- du temple in Rajasthan considers them holy), is blamed for much of the Black Death in Europe. Although this species, like most rats, can carry a Rat Race Despised Rodents Are Unsung Heroes by Kim Doner