On the first day of May, I was at my parent's house to help my mom do some spring cleaning. My dog, Callie, had spent most of the afternoon standing next to my mom's car, sniffing and pawing at the left headlight. After some time, we decided to open the hood, thinking that one of our cats may have climbed up in there. We held the dogs back, just in case. When mom lifted up the hood, a giant rat jumped out. The dogs chased it into a pile of rocks, so I moved several rocks until it ran out and into mom's flower bed, which was out of the dogs' reach (the dogs are on an electric collar system that keeps them in their 3-acre yard). To the dismay of some, the rat lived. It looked similar to the one pictured below:
It was cute...in a creepy, crawly sort of way. I did a little research and found that it is called a "Black Rat" (scientific name is Rattus rattus). Although not black in color, the rats got their name from the spread of bubonic plague, or the "black death". Their blood can hold lots of infectious bacteria, which makes them great disease carriers. They are also considered pests to many farmers, since they damage agricultural crops. Now you know!
Until next time,
Miss Ellaneous
1 comment:
Does that mean your farm could get the Bubonic Plague!? :)
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