What Is The Role Of Rats In Culture?

What Is The Role Of Rats In Culture?

Rats are ubiquitous in our culture, our conversation and our religions.  In the Hindu religion rats are thought to be the physical vehicle of the elephant god Ganesh. They are considered to reincarnate as sadhus, Hindu holy men.  Every Ganesh temple has a statue of a rat in it.

In the Chinese zodiac the sign of the rat is the first.  People born under this sign are thought to be wasteful and intelligent. In the British Isle of Man, near the north-western coast 'rat' is certainly taboo.  In fact 'rats' is used as a mild expletive in the US, probably due the negative association of rats with spreading of human disease.

The main problem caused by rats is the huge amount of property damage caused by them chewing the wires in cars. They also damage property such as commercial stock, industrial machinery and robots.  A paper from 2009 demonstrated that rats cause $9 billion worth of property damage in the United States alone.  The main reason for this damage is the fact that rat's teeth surprisingly grow continuously. This happens during their whole lives, at a super rate of between 4.5 and 5.5 inches each year and they need actively to grind them down.  This new invention from Hammer Technologies is aimed squarely at stopping this damage.  It works as a perimetric deterrent which stops rats getting near to that which you want to protect.