Rat refers to a type of rodent, on Earth originating in family Muridae, although the species does exist in otherworldly forms.

Brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) originated in Central Asia and arrived in Great Britain in 1730, reaching the United States of America in 1775.

Rats were considered extinct - though by uncertain means - by 2267; however, this was proved to be incorrect when Hikaru Sulu brought one on board the USS Enterprise, which he had acquired on Vishnu and named Mickey. (TOS novel: Mission to Horatius)

Q once turned Jean-Luc Picard into a rat, in order to unobtrusively watch the events of an alternate timeline. (TNG comic: "The Gift")

Odo would often disguise himself as a rat when needing to eavesdrop on others. Odo once disguised himself as a rat in order to listen to a conversation between the Kohn-Ma terrorist Tahna Los and the Duras sisters Lursa and B'Etor. He later disguised himself as a rat while hiding on a Kressari freighter, and while in that form witnessed a Cardassian gul transferring weapons meant for the Bajoran Alliance for Global Unity movement. (DS9 episodes: "Past Prologue", "The Circle")

In addition to eavesdropping, Odo would adopt the form of a rat when needing to move rapidly through areas where his regular humanoid form would not fit. Odo used the form of a rat to catch Nog in a crawlspace after Nog played a prank on the station security forces. (DS9 novel: The Siege)

ConnectionsEdit

• Rat article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
• Rat article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.