August 25, 2008
MQ: Giant Rats
Out of the plethora of MonsterQuest episodes I haven't written up, why pick "Giant Rats" to write about? Well, because although they're not terribly interesting, their situation is: namely, lots of people report seeing them — yet there is absolutely no scientific evidence to support their existence… until now! Just kidding, there still isn't.
The Monster Quest team had a really neat idea: put a camera on a rat and let it go down into the rat-hole (literally) where it lives to see if maybe there are "King Rats" lurking deep under the city (you can guess which city they conducted this investigation in). There were only two problems with this idea: the cameras stuck out too much and wouldn't fit down the holes, and the rats were able to get out of the camera harness pretty much whenever they felt like it.
One thing they were able to confirm was the existence of piebald, or black-and-white rats. These were rumored to be the offspring of escaped laboratory rats (typically albino rats) which mated with wild rats. The result is a rat that has a two-tone coat of fur reminiscent of a cow. One rat exterminator that was working with MonsterQuest actually managed to catch one of these (alive) and showed it on-camera. That was kind of cool. It wasn't the mythical creature we were looking for, but it was a kinda-sorta myth confirmed.
No investigation of giant rats would be complete without interviewing homeless people who live in abandoned subway tunnels and storm drains, but how to arrange the interview? MonsterQuest actually found a guy who is an "Urban Explorer" — basically, he goes into crawlspaces and explores areas where new buildings were built on top of old buildings, etc. It's pseudo-modern-anthropology/archeology and mainly just something kind of interesting, exciting (and somewhat dangerous) to do.
This particular urban explorer apparently stopped and spoke to the folks he ran into in his explorations, which is kind of cool. He introduced the MonsterQuest crew to one guy in particular who, although on the surface not the most reliable-seeming witness, seemed quite genuine when he spoke about the size of the rats he sees on a regular basis. Basically, he said he saw rats the size of a small dog. As outrageous as that seems, this is coming from a guy whom rats have likely tried to turn into dinner more than once. As other homeless folks mentioned, if you're showing any exposed skin while you're sleeping (and sometimes when you're not) rats won't hesitate to take a bite or three out of you.
In the end, of course, no giant rats were captured on film. What surprised me though, is that no one mentioned the potential culprit that I had in my head throughout most of the episode. I live in a suburbs outside a major city known for rats (all of them are, actually; just ask an exterminator) and I know there are opossum around here. I've seen them dead on the road, occasionally. I've seen them in my yard, rarely. Once I found one that had fallen into my garbage can and couldn't get out.
These animals can look quite ratlike, especially the ones I've seen living in more urban environments. They're not rats, in fact they are the only marsupial (a word most often associated with Australia) naturally found in North America. It seems to me they would be the natural explanation for what people are actually seeing when they think they're seeing a giant rat — but for some reason MonsterQuest didn't explore this possibility.
Filed under MonsterQuest, Posts by Logisti
 |
| ^ Please Support our Sponsor |
Comments on MQ: Giant Rats »
Brandon @ 4:27 am
Logisti,
You did miss pointing out that the show did turn up perhaps the only usual evidence of any Monster Quest episode, the Black and White rat. That was pretty cool to see.
As for your commonsense approach to the opossum conclusion, well, just remember many of the eyewitnesses aren’t of sound mind to begin with.
Rob @ 7:28 pm
I didnt watch this episode because I didnt think the subject of giant rats was particularly interesting, matter of fact I only clicked on this topic out of curiosity and now I wished I would've watched that episode because I've seen a giant rat, and I'm neither homeless nor crazy. It was in '95 or '96 while I was at work, I watched a 2 foot long (not counting the tail) rat circle the outside of the room I was in and then disappear behind a table with a back on it, it then reappeared after a second or two and was going up the inside of an I-beam support beam. I'll never forget that thing, and until now I didnt think I'd seen anything out of the ordinary. And it was no opossum I saw, it was a rat, a big ass rat.
Oubliette @ 11:44 pm
Interesting. The biggest rat I ever saw was about 18 inches, including the tail.
Thing is, if there are giant humans, like those people who grow to 7 feet or more, why not the occasional rat? Imagine the amount of food it must require…well, maybe I don't want to imagine it.
Possums fur looks different from a rat. Also their ears are tinier and set farther back on the head. In poor lighting, I think it is possible to mistake one for a rat, but not in a well-lit room.
I have no idea how I would react to a 2 ft. long one. I used to swat at them in the barn with a broom, but if one were big enough and turned on me–heck, I'm out of there.
Rob, I hope you reported seeing that monster. The can be very vicious when fighting amongst each other. I shudder to think how big those two projecting teeth in the front must have been. =O
keith @ 3:38 pm
iam here in coosbay ,ore the o.s.i.r. thankfully caught 2 of the three left the are about 4 feet white and hairless they came in on a korean grain ship …..
Revenant @ 5:54 pm
Keith- Ok…what is the "o.s.i.r.?" And can you please provide a link to some sort of news site to show us exactly what you are talking about?
keith @ 12:51 pm
yes The Office of Sciencetific investagtion and reasearch i haave giant ,hairless rats as described there is on left they came in on asmall korean ship not a boatthat crashed into the bay shore as i witnesd it but was told not to talk about it by the cops it is not indigous to the u.s. have a good day
Heather @ 10:32 pm
Hello. I am a neuroscience graduate student, and I just watched this monster quest episode. I would like to point out that the mysterious black and white rat that they found is actually not that mysterious at all. It is called a Long-Evans Hooded rat, and is a strain commonly used in laboratories around the world (as well as for pets). Contrary to popular opinion, the white rat (generally Wistar strain) is not as commonly used in the lab anymore, due to some genetic deficiencies, possibly because it is an albino.
Here are a couple of links:
http://www.criver.com/en-US/ProdServ/ByType/ResModOver/ResMod/Pages/Long-EvansRat.aspx
http://www.taconic.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=779
Frankly, I was disappointed that the neuroscientist, at the very least, did not point out what the "mysterious" rat was.
Revenant @ 11:00 pm
Heather- Thank you for the information and for the links. It is always interesting to hear facts that are not presented in the show. Also, good luck with your studies. If I may ask, what branch of neuroscience are you studying?
Heather @ 4:34 pm
I'm glad the info is appreciated
I'm studying behavioural neuroscience, hoping eventually to get into some robotics applications thereof…
keith @ 2:35 pm
heather keith here all the rats had eye color after i killed the one his eyes with out rolling changed to cloudy white the one that got away i heard the other night no doubt calling for its kind i wunder if they had pups iam told he took the arm when he gotr to close to the cage he lived barely o.s.i.r. rocks thanksguys if your monitoring ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^…..^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^