Mooshika blog

Mooshika.org - Welcome! Bienvenue!

In the Hindu religion, rats represent foresight and prudence, and white ones are very lucky. Mooshika is the name of the steed that Ganesh - god of new beginnings and of fire, knowledge, wisdom, literature and worldly success - rides upon. The steed, of course, is the intelligent and gentle rat. “Mooshika” means “little hoarder.”

Dans la religion hindoue, les rats représentent la prévoyance et la prudence, les blancs étant considérés comme particulièrement chanceux. Mooshika est le nom du destrier de Ganesh – dieu des nouveaux départs, du feu, du savoir, de la sagesse, de la littérature et du succès matériel. Ce destrier, bien sûr, est un digne représentant de la race douce et intelligente des rats. Le nom ''Mooshika'' signifie petit amasseur.

Thursday, February 27, 2020

Potentially last post of this blog…

In a bid to make my digital footprint a little smaller, I've taken steps to remove things from the Internet and decided to close the email address associated with the Mooshika blog. I've transferred blog administration over to another email address, but as I started the email address and the blog so long ago, there may be a chance that it disappears anyway when I close the old account.

If this happens, then it was a wonderful experience to run Small Victories Rodent Rescue and then transfer my legacy website to the Blogger platform. I hope that the information was useful to many people over the years, and appreciate that so many have reached out, particularly over flying with their small animal.

If the site remains, I'll leave this note up anyway, as an indication that someone is still here!

Saturday, April 27, 2019

Coming as no surprise: Rats feel empathy - a neurological basis

Researchers in the Netherlands have identified the same pathway in rats that shows empathetic response when another rat is undergoing a shock as when humans observe another person in pain. The same regions of the brain are activated.

(Link if it doesn't work: https://neurosciencenews.com/emotional-mirror-neurons-rats-11066/?fbclid=IwAR0u-WKemrj22JxrSALqK4YBt0tq0QrhJ2BWAnC6jYYS3LPl7eOmLfHolHE)

Tuesday, June 26, 2018

The Smithsonian has a rat exhibit!

The National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute in Washington, DC, has had an exhibit for Norway rats - your favourite regular kind of wild rat - with three females: Donut, Muffin, and Cupcake. If you happen to pass through on your travels (or even live there), you have an extra incentive, beyond the panda exhibit, to go :-)