The video was filmed in Huaraz, Ancash state, Peru, as a rat stood in a bathtub. Oddly, the mouse had soap on its fur and the movements showed it was taking a bath like a human.
The mouse stood upright on its hind legs and rubbed its front paws daily. Video creator Jose Correa said he was about to take a shower when he noticed the bizarre scene.
Upon seeing the unusual behavior of the rat, Jose was astounded and quickly grabbed his phone to record a video, exclaiming,This is the first time I see this. After 30 seconds of bathing, the rat spotted Jose and ran away.
Once the video was uploaded, Jose received numerous messages from people all over the world expressing their disbelief. One person even texted him, "Unbelievable, I can't even believe it anymore."
Despite the video quickly gaining 37 million views in just two days, some Reddit users remained skeptical of its authenticity, speculating that it could have been a puppet or a 3D image.
Discussing this video, experts have not given many differing opinions.
According to evolutionary biologist Dallas Krenzel, this is not a normal mouse. Krenzel says external features such as bipedal standing, flexible forelimbs, and a short or absent tail suggest it was a pacarana - a rodent native to South America.
Furthermore, this rat does not necessarily enjoy taking a bath. Scrubbing is essentially scratching and trying to get rid of the soap or any chemicals from the body.
"The mouse seemed to be panicking and just wanted to shake off what was stuck to it," says biologist Toumoas Aivelo from the University of Helsinki.
It's unclear how the rat got the soap on itself, according to Aivelo. Maybe it fell on the soap, maybe it fell in the sink and immediately tried to scrub to get them off. But most likely, someone soaped it. Aivelo thinks that maybe the mouse is pain by the soap
Wathching vieo below:
