624. The Animal No One Loves, Until They Do

To most people, the rat is vile and villainous. But not to everyone! We hear from a scientist who befriended rats and another who worked with them in the lab — and from the animator who made one the hero of a Pixar blockbuster. (Part three of a three-part series, “Sympathy for the Rat.”)

SOURCES:Bethany Brookshire • , author of Pests: How Humans Create Animal VillainsJan Pinkava, • creator and co-writer of "Ratatouille," and director of the Animation Institute at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg. Julia Zichello, • evolutionary biologist at Hunter College.

RESOURCES: • " Weekend Column: Rat’s End, or, How a Rat Dies, • " by Julia Zichello (West Side Rag, • 2024). Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains • by Bethany Brookshire (2022). • " Rats: the history of an incendiary cartoon trope, • " by Archie Bland (The Guardian, • 2015). • " Catching the Rat: Understanding Multiple and Contradictory Human-Rat Relations as Situated Practices, • " by Koen Beumer (Society & Animals, • 2014). • " Effects of Chronic Methylphenidate on Dopamine/Serotonin Interactions in the Mesolimbic DA System of the Mouse, • " by Bethany Brookshire (Wake Forest University, • 2010). • " A New Deal For Mice, • " by C.C. Little (Scientific American, • 1935).