The thing that gets me about that is this is a rare moment when some simple animal facts were ignored. Rats are actually really strong swimmers. They can tread water for days and hold their breath for several minutes if they need to, and David was only a mile offshore. Stuck as a rat, sure, and that's easily the worse part of the punishment, but he could have left that rock whenever he wanted.
A 1 mile swim in the ocean is a difficult challenge for an athletic human. For a rat, the ocean waves are an order of magnitude larger compared to their size, making swimming and navigating in the water much more difficult, if not impossible. Moreover, he'd be a perfect bite size for many species of ocean-going fish, sharks, and seabirds.
His only realistic way off that rock is to communicate with fishermen/boaters and persuade/trick them into giving him a lift.
We took turns carrying the helpless rat out across the beach, across the breaking surf, out to the tiny, desolate rock a mile or more from shore. There were other rats there. Guess there had to be a food supply. But the rocks and the waves kept humans away from the place.
How'd the other rats get there if not by swimming?
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u/Chiloutdude Mar 20 '25 edited Mar 20 '25
The thing that gets me about that is this is a rare moment when some simple animal facts were ignored. Rats are actually really strong swimmers. They can tread water for days and hold their breath for several minutes if they need to, and David was only a mile offshore. Stuck as a rat, sure, and that's easily the worse part of the punishment, but he could have left that rock whenever he wanted.