A MOUSE OR A RAT

 Are you clear on the difference between a mouse and a rat?  For most of my life, I thought a mouse was a small rat - maybe a baby rat or a nicer kind of rat.  Not so!  They are both rodents but actually quite different.

A rat is an evil creature.  It is blamed for many of the great plagues and pandemics of the world. In general they are much larger than mice.  Mice are cute.  Rats are ugly.  You can 'smell a rat' but maybe not a mouse.  

Rats come with fur and a long furless tail.  There are 56 species of rats in the world.  The most common are the white, gray, black, and democ.   The only rat-free part of the world is Antarctica.  

Rats have such a bad reputation that we call those people who squeal on us, "Rats" or people who "ratted" on us.  The only redeeming factor about rats is that, because of their great ability to quickly reproduce, they are very valuable to us in the lab.  Rats are so vile that the SPCA doesn't even object to labs running tests on them.  

Back in the 'big hair' days I lived through, young women were known to 'rat' their hair - back comb it to increase its apparent volume.  This made the makers of  Aqua Net rich.  

Mice, on the other hand, have none of the same wicked connotations. Even Walt Disney loved mice.  Just take a look at Mickey and his girlfriend, Minnie.   Very lovable!  

Another thing to consider is how the mouse propelled the Internet Age into existence.  Who would ever put their hand on a rat to move a pointer or icon?  

One of my favorite movies in the 1960s was called The Mouse on the Moon.   I was dating my wife at the time and embarrassed her with how loud and uproarious I laughed.   You had to be there.  I'll tell about it another time.  

🐁🐀