Mammal Stereotypes - Rats - 29 - Page 1

Evil or kleptomaniacal, a few sympathetic depictions

In contrast with mice, rats are almost always depicted as villains or dangerous creatures. This image is also derived from the rats' reputation as a carrier of The Black Death and other diseases: The rat in Lady and the Tramp, Professor Ratigan in The Great Mouse Detective, the rats in Redwall and in the films Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Willard, Rats. A few sympathetic depictions of rats do exist, however: Ben, the title character in the film Ben, Splinter from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Rizzo the Rat from The Muppets, Remy in Ratatouille and The Rats of Nimh in The Secret of NIMH.

Rats are typically distinguished from mice by their size; rats are generally large muroid rodents, while mice are generally small muroid rodents. The muroid family is very large and complex, and the common terms rat and mouse are not taxonomically specific. Generally, when someone discovers a large muroid, its common name includes the term rat, while if it is small, the name includes the term mouse