For a good overview of what humans know about rats I recommend Robert Hendrickson's More Cunning Than Man-A Social History of Rats and Men, published by Stein and Day (1983).
a list of all rat and mouse clubs worldwide (whether they're on the net or not)
Breeding Rats
The rattus programallows you to enter the coat colors of two breeding rats and predict the colors of their offspring. The page is maintained by Filip Sebek. The database is in Swedish but there is a list of terms and their English translations for those who don't know Swedish.
According to one of it's pages, "The Biocomputation Center at NASA Ames Research Center is dedicated to computer-based three-dimensional (3-D) visualization of cells, tissues and organs, to mathematically based modeling, and to 3-D simulations of the functioning of living systems from the subcellular and molecular to the organismal level." The Center has supplied some movies of reconstructions of biological tissue that play with a program called Sparkle. Who can resist titles like FDA NCTR Rat Embryo from confocal (628KB),
Rat Vestibular Endorgan (Macula) from TEM (734KB) , and Another Rat Vestibular Endorgan (Macula) from TEM (807KB). The Center has also posted thislist of jpeg images of biological tissue in cross section. [Some of these images seem to be cross sections of bits of rats, but I am not sure I understand the site. Any explanations or corrections would be appreciated.]
If you are a researcher using mice or rats you can join the rodent-research listserve by sending an e-mail message to: majordomo@cco.caltech.edu
with a single line of message text: subscribe rodent-research
The preview trailer from Muppet Treasure Island only has some small bits involving Rizzo the rat but you can download an interview of Gonzo and Rizzo talking about working with director Brian Henson (17 Seconds, Quicktime or AVI) from one of Disney's Treasure Island pages and here's a line drawing of tourist rats
Even the busiest rats like to unwind with a good book. Might I suggest Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH ? ( 1972 Newbery Medal winning book by Robert C O'Brien, made into the 1982 movie The Secret of NIMH) Or you can read about a water rat in Wind in the Willows Or you could check out Rats of Fortuna
Bryan Talbot is the author/illustrator of the graphic novel The Tale of One Bad Rat. I recommend the novel completely. Beg borrow or steal it, better yet buy it. Ask for it at your local bookstore. (The ISBN number is: 1569710775.) If you can't find it locally, Amazon books carries it. For those of you who have already read it, Bryan Talbot discusses some of the ideas that went into "http://www.dhorse.com/dhonline/int/talbotint.html">interview from the Dark Horse Comics site.
Amy and Brian Lee have lived with many rats, including these furry folk: Hastur, Wotan, Grendel, Spiney Norman, Bandersnatch, Jabberwock, Little Nemo, Toby the Sapient Pig, Chupacabra, Deprong Mori. Complete with well written little bios of each rat.
Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers sells rubber stamps. Their Fright Night collection includes a stylized rat.
Rat Fink of underground comix fame is available on a zippo lighter at Smoke King Check out this scary jpeg Not a wholesome site. (Warning-- this site uses frames.)
