Rats, Rats, Rats!

LOL! You know what I find most hilarious about some people? Any animal that is small, that a person has no idea what that animal is, they think it's a rat. Recently, I've even seen someone say on a TV show, that a lemur is a rat! I sat there thinking "In what way does a lemur resemble a rat??" To me, a rat is a tiny creature with naked ears, a long, naked tail, squat legs, beady eyes, and naked feet tipped with claws. Lemurs hardly fit the description. Most of them have hairy ears, large eyes, long legs, and a furry tail. Of course not all rats are as I described. One of the beautiful things about rats is that they come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Some of them look more like squirrels than what the average human perceives as rats. Of all the small, non-rodent animals I've seen, the only ones I can think of that remind me of a typical rat, are the opossums. Check out the resemblance:

Typical rats

American Opossum

To me, there is a resemblance. Opossums are of course much bigger, and they don't have the incisors like rats and all other rodents do. But outwardly, there is a resemblance. Their legs are short and squat, the eyes are dark and beady, the ears are teardrop-shaped and naked, the tail is long and naked, and the feet are naked and tipped with claws. All the same characteristics that most people think of when they think of a rat. But opossums are not rats. They're not even rodents. They are marsupials. But a lemur resembling a rat?? Some of the tiny ones I could see somewhat (??) resembling rats. That's how they got the name of "mouse lemurs", because they somewhat resemble mice.

Mouse Lemur

But any other kind of lemur, I would have to seriously disagree resembles a rat. I just don't see the connection, or how anyone could make such an observation. In fact, most lemurs look no more like rats than a cat does! I look at lemurs, and to me, they look more like cats! Not rats. Or maybe like a cross between a dog and a cat. Take a look at these varieties especially:

You know why I think a lot of people say any small animals resemble rats? Its because they're not looking at a lion, or a tiger, or an elephant. They don't know what they're looking at, all they know is that it's a small animal with fur all over it, so they call it a rat. To a lot of lazy-ass people, it's easier to just look at a small animal and say "that's a rat" than to get educated and learn what the difference between a small animal and a rodent is. I learned! I learned the difference in no time. It used to drive my ma CRAZY too!!! It was hard for her to realize I wasn't that young, gullible child anymore who agreed with everything she said, but someone who is well-educated about animals and takes that knowledge very seriously. It took ma a LONG time to finally figure that out. I was relieved when she did too. I can remember one morning we even got into a fist fight (which she started) just because she misidentified something and I corrected her.

As someone who has studied animals for the majority of my life, I learned not to look at animals on the surface. Appearances are oftentimes deceiving! To me, lions look more like dogs than cats. The only thing that looks cat-like on a lion is the whiskers and feet. Hyenas also look dog-like, but they are not dogs either. They just look like dogs. So you can't really tell what an animal is related to just by looking at the surface of that animal. Rodents and rabbits are the only mammals that have the long incisors. And while the group of rodents is a very large group, it does not consist of all the small mammals of the world. Every group has variety.