Squirrels and guinea pigs both figured out how to solve the rat charisma concern, but in different ways.
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You’re not wrong. The rat charisma problem is mostly due to that plague noodle they drag behind them. Going with a big fluffy tail or no tail were solid PR moves by squirrels and guineas.
So how do you feel about the (North American) eastern wood rat? They’ve got a hairy tail more like a minks tail. Smooth furred instead of fluffy like a squirrel.
My mate had a homeless man he was friends with leave a rat in his backpack and it had the biggest set of balls on it. Eventually they caught up and got the rat back to its owner
And one is so agile it's entertaining ant the other is a potato which is endearing.
I saw a sketch one time which showed a rat asking a squirrel “who does your PR?”
Squirrels don't try to move into your house. At least not deliberately.
Yes, and beavers solved it by picking up a trade and getting a union card.
Wait… are we talking about lab experiments or some alternate universe animal politics?
We're talking about how rats are hated in part because their tails look like worms.
Guinea pigs are mostly eaten. Not sure that’s much of an improvement
…So are mice? What’s your point
The by far most successful mammals are those that make good food for humans, so from an evolutionary perspective it's pretty damn good.
Is that really true? I know they’re eaten in some places, but how common is that vs the places that see them as pets?
Rats have plenty of charisma. You’re just hanging around with the wrong rats.
Riff-raff. Street rats! I won't buy that.
My mom has always called squirrels "rats with a good PR campaign"
What "rat charisma problem"? Rats are the most adorable creatures on the planet. Dogs are the only other serious contender for the title of man's best friend. I think guinea pigs and squirrels are also adorable, but not as adorable as rats and the relationship they have with u...
You’re forgetting cats
I think they mean the hands and tail. Personally, I love when they use their little hands and tails to cling to you rather than go back in the cage. But a lot of people find them really creepy for some reason. I used to have mice, and I miss their happy popcorning when it...
yeah no, majority of people think rats r full of diseases and are dirty pests. show them a rat and the first thing they say is ew. public perception of rats is exactly the rat charisma problem OP is talking about. only those that worked with rats actually understand their nature
Wait until you meet a hamster - it will blow your mind!
I think it will blow its oen mind first
This is the most shower-thoughty showerthought I've read in a long time. Well done.
Mice took a third approach and just hired Disney.
If you're thinking Rattatouille, Little Chef was a rat. Unless you're talking about Cinderella?
As a former rattie mama and lifelong rat lover, I would just like to say that I think rats are beautiful from the tips of their whiskers to the tips of their tails
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I think everybody in this thread has a fundamental misunderstanding of why people don’t like rats.
I'd be less mad about rats if they didn't break in everywhere. I've never walked into a business and saw a guinea pig just on a counter or running past in the background. I've been irritated by squirrels outside my house but never inside my house.
Squirrels don’t live in your walls and tear up your house for the most part. Idk about guinea pigs.
One is a tree puppy. One is a potato with anxiety. The other is unfairly demonized.
I mean, I like rats. They're funny little guys with clever little paws!
Nice. Elegant rat and potato rat. Both genius.
you just ruined squirrels for me, just so you know
Guinea pigs as we know them today are a man-made invention and do not exist in nature. They are a hybrid of a few different wild cavy species and were domesticated as much as 7000 years ago, primarily as a meat source.
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Wow, I hadn’t thought about it that way. Hilarious