How Are Rats Made?
WouterRats are made in laboratories. The rodents are commonly bred for food, cosmetics, or as companion animals for humans. They are typically kept in shoebox cages. Their bedding can be made of paper, wood chips, or corncob. Housing on wire floors is not advisable unless it is justified and approved by the animal care and use committee. To help with identification, each rat should have a cage card which includes their name, sex, supplier, investigator, and contact information. Ear tags, tattoos, and fur dyes are also common methods of identification. Microchips can also be used to identify rats.
Rats have been portrayed in fiction for centuries, and have various uses. In World War II, a propaganda poster for Imperial Japan used a rat as the enemy. However, the rat has often been misrepresented in popular culture, and its use in fiction is not historically accurate. The most common falsehood is that rats squeak, but this is rarely the case. The normal vocalizations of rats are very high and outside the range of human hearing. Another characteristic of a rat is its shyness, which allows it to remain undiscovered.
In recent years, a number of new RAT families have been created. For example, DarkComet RAT, developed by Jean-Pierre Lesueur, was used by the Syrian government to spy on its citizens. This particular RAT can take screenshots and steal passwords. Other hacking groups have used it, including APT38 and the North Korean government. It is available online for around $20.
