FRIDAY, JUNE 21

Solstice

FIVE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT RATS

image01 Rats spread typhoid, rat-bite fever, Weil’s disease, salmonella, rabies, hantavirus, dysentery, trichinosis, Lassa fever, and bubonic plague, among other bacteria, viruses, and parasites.

image01 A rat can work its way through any opening larger than half a square inch.

image01 A rat may urinate as many as 80 times and defecate as many as 40 times a day.

image01 A rat can slip the skin off its tail and escape if caught.

image01 A mother rat may eat her entire litter if she is malnourished.