This episode was suggested by a listener and patron, Rachel G.

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This episode contains discussions about animal testing, extermination, and blood sports.

If that's not something you want to hear about, this may be a good episode to skip.

Humans are fascinated by gore and violence, but even more so the mysterious and unsolved.

Interest in these disturbing and unpleasant subjects is called morbid curiosity, and it has gripped hundreds of people throughout the ages.

I am one of those people.

My name is Hallie, and this is the Morbid Curiosity podcast.

Music There is no animal that humans are so starkly divided about than the rat. Many feel disgusted or even afraid of rats and believe they are dirty disease carriers

who brought on plagues that decimated Europe in the past.

Others find them as perfect animal models, integral for scientific research and psychological

testing done in laboratories all across the world. Still others find them to be wonderful companions,

capable of affection and great intelligence. These three images of the rat developed over the course

of history, and while the wild, disease-ridden version of the rat is certainly ingrained in most

human populations, the other views of the rat are quickly becoming more mainstream. In this episode,

we'll talk about how each view came to be, and how rats are more like humans than most people think.

But first, let's talk about what rats are, their origins, and how they spread to almost every continent of the world.

Rats are mammals of the order rodentia or rodents.

They are separated from other mammals due to the presence of a single

pair of large front teeth or incisors in the upper and lower jaws that grow continuously,

which is why rats must gnaw in order to keep their teeth at a manageable size. The stereotypical rats

...