Mice or rats? It’s a question

Date:2007-07-11

Shanghai Daily yesterday published a mice story on page A7. The story talked about an estimated two billion field mice running rampant in 22 counties around Dongting Lake in central China's Hunan Province. (Read the story http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=322783&type=National)

Members of Shanghai Daily’s Website department all felt shocked at the news when we saw the pictures of the ravenous rodents. But soon the feeling of disgust turned into a hot debate as Marc Tessier, Web department’s polisher raised a question: Are they rats or mice?

Everyone in the Web group kept silent as we thought the question was really too professional to answer. The pictures were also not big enough to provide definitive proof.

The question remained unanswered until the afternoon when Calvin Tan, a Singaporean polisher with Shanghai Daily’s Biz group, started a conversation with Marc about the definition of these ugly animals.

“What you think we should call those animals?” Marc asked Calvin, pointing at a picture in which a farmer was holding five rodents by the tails.

“They are rats,” Calvin replied without any hesitation.

“Rats? I think they are mice,” Marc said.

“They look the same as those rat labs,” Calvin insisted. “So they must be rats.”

“No, I don’t think so,” Marc debated.

……

Well, you might feel strange why a single word could arouse such discussion at our news room as not every one cares that much about what they are called. But as a reporter or polisher, the obligation to find the most accurate and concise word for our articles compels us to check and recheck the information provided.

Finally, after minutes of discussion, the two polishers came to an agreement: The animals should be called “mice” as they were reportedly living in fields and devouring crops.

For a clear picture of the two words “rat” and “mice”, we offer you the difference as follows:

Rat Rats are distinguished from mice by their size. Generally they have bodies longer than 12 cm (5 inches), which are larger than mice. They also have modified teeth for gnawing and are usually black.

Mouse Mice are basically Asian in origin, but species have been introduced worldwide. Mice eat grains, roots, fruit, grass, and insects.

So what do you think?