Who Let the Rats Out?!

Action heroes sure are cool. But when it comes to getting away and not getting found, Indiana Jones is nothing compared to a rat. The pesky little critters, or, precisely, one pesky little critter named Razza, were the subject of a study that confirms just how mind-blowingly difficult it is to capture a rat once it's found its way out. Why the study? Rats are extremely destructive creatures, invading species that have snuck onto almost every continent to spreaddisease, infest homes, eat native species, and generally wreak havoc on the ecosystem. So scientists placed a single rat on a barren island,cheated a little by putting a tracking collar on it, and set traps. A few months later, Razza the rat was going strong. He avoided every trap,and even swam half a mile across the sea to another island. By that time, the tracking collar was broken, and the scientists were going by DNA in his droppings follow him. They didn't catch him until 18 months later, with a trap baited with fresh penguin. (EWW.) After that, the sweaty, tired scientists released a report in Nature magazine, where they concluded "eliminating a single invading rat is disproportionately difficult."In other words, it sure is hard to catch a rat.  

Smart rat. But at least Indiana Jones isn't afraid of cats.