Random Facts You Didn’t Know About Rats That Will Seriously Disturb You (11 items)

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  (#1) Rats Can Never Stop Chewing Because If They Stop Chewing They Die

  In case you were wondering how or why rats never stop chewing the answer is simple: teeth. A rat can live for up to seven years and for that entire time their teeth are in a continuous state of growth. In order to keep them healthy and sharp, and, of course, to avoid certain death caused by overgrown teeth, rats must chew on anything and everything they find.
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  (#2) Rats' Teeth Are Strong Enough To Cut Through Concrete

  Rat’s teeth are open rooted and their jaw muscles run all the way up through their eye sockets. This unique setup allows rats to chew through pretty much anything, even concrete and wire cages. These ever growing monstrosities exert approximately 24,000 pounds per square inch.
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  (#3) They Can Swim Up The Toilet And Bite You

  Thinking of flushing that pesky rat in your apartment down the toilet? Well, think again. Rats don't die in the sewer system. They thrive in the sewer system. They love toilets and small spaces and they are excellent swimmers. They can tread water for at least three days on average. The urine isn't much of a turn off for them either. Typically, rats pee about 80 times a day. But, that's not even the best part. There is video footage showing rats as they make that Olympic swim through the sewer system and up into your toilet. Think about that the next time you lift the seat and squat without looking.
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  (#4) Some Rats Have Pouches Like Kangaroos

  The giant pouched rat can grow up to 18 inches in length and weighs a little over three pounds. This particular subspecies is responsible for spreading the monkey pox and is therefore not ideal as pets. Here’s a bizarro-world fact about this rat - in addition to its easily identifiable pouch, it can also smell tuberculosis, a feature that’s astonishingly more accurate and speedy than scientific testing.
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  (#5) Others Grow To Be The Size Of A House Cat

  The largest rats encountered in modern times are two-and-a-half feet long and weigh a little over four pounds, making them about the size of a house cat or lap dog. These giant rodents, known as Mallomys Gunug, have set up shop along the mountainside of western New Guinea and love island habitats. That being said, there are several other noteworthy giant rats that awe scientists. Among them is the aforementioned pouched rat along with the Northern Luzon giant cloud rat. If you think these modern giant rats sound scary, hold on to your pesticide because the rats of yesteryear were even bigger according to archeologists who are recovering fossils of presumably extinct colossal rodents that would blow your mind.
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  (#6) Some Rats Have A Heightened Sense Of Intelligence

  Rats are masterfully skilled at navigation which is why they tend to excel at mazes and other things - like, you know, spreading their global population to mind boggling proportions. Ponder this if you will - rats currently inhabit every single one of Earth’s continents except Antarctica (and who wants to live there anyway, right?). But, seriously, that’s not even the half of it. Scientists have been tinkering away at these poor rodents’s brains and now they’ve created a super-rat that was given “smart medicine” like in limitless and now has intelligence that rivals some humans. And we all thought it would be the robots who would eventually overthrow us. This definitely puts a new spin on an old nightmare. Oh and in case you were wondering, the medicine doesn't work on us pesky humans.
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  (#7) They Know How To Memorize

  One of the things that makes rats so intelligent is their talent for memorization. This isn’t exactly good news for rat trap setters as they tend to instinctively remember where traps are and avoid them at all costs. According to one study, rats can remember maze patterns to a greater extent than humans can recall casually exchanged telephone numbers. 
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  (#8) They Can Chew Their Way Into And Smell Their Way Out Of Anything

  According to extensive research, a rat’s teeth are tougher than copper and iron, possibly stronger than the Man of Steel, even (Yes, Superman. He does not have teeth this tough. We’re sure of it). As such, rats can chew their way into brick, wood, plastic, asbestos, you name it. Once inside your dwelling space, they can smell their way out of anything from land mines to garbage. Not that it would matter since feeding on garbage only serves to increase their super strength. 
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  (#9) Rats Use Their Whiskers To Get Through Incredibly Small Spaces

  Many believe that because a fairly average size rat can fit through a hole about the size of a quarter, they possess a collapsible spine. While a fascinating rumor, this is actually a myth. Rats are incredibly nimble creatures that use their whiskers for sensory purposes and it is these whiskers that aide them in getting through ridiculously small spaces, not their spines.
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  (#10) Their Communities Have Leaders

  Forget everything you ever heard about rats making great pets. These conniving critters don’t belong in a cage. They belong in society - their society, not ours. Yes, rats are of the few species of rodent that maintain a sophisticated social structure complete with leaders, assistant leaders, outcasts and rebels. Could that be where the term Rat King came from? 
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  (#11) They Love Biting Sleeping Humans

  According to Dr. Curt P. Richter, rats thoroughly enjoy biting humans - especially while they are sleeping. Their favorite body parts to go for are, brace yourself, the face and hands. Their favorite people to go after? People who have previously been bitten by rats. This is the ultimate definition of a predator. They’re looking for the weak, the scared, the sleeping, and the previously bitten humans of the world. 

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