Mouse caught on camera tidying man's shed every night
Imagine a real-life Ratatouille scene unfolding in your shed! Well, that's what happened to wildlife photographer Rodney Holbrook from Builth Wells, Powys, Wales. For two months, he noticed items he left out of place were mysteriously returned to their proper spots overnight. Curious, Holbrook set up a night vision camera on his workbench and discovered a mouse diligently tidying up his shed, just like in the 2007 animated movie.
The mouse's nightly activities recorded
Holbrook, 75, shared with BBC, "I call him Welsh Tidy Mouse." The night vision footage revealed the hardworking rodent collecting clothes pegs, corks, nuts and bolts, and neatly placing them in a tray on Holbrook's workbench. He tested the mouse's abilities by leaving out various objects to see if it could lift them. Unfazed, the mouse was even spotted carrying cable ties to the pot. "I couldn't believe it when I saw that the mouse was tidying up," Holbrook exclaimed.
Holbrook now purposely leaves things out of the box
According to Holbrook's statement to BBC, this incident of things appearing miraculously has persisted for several months. Initially, the man saw that some of the food that he was setting out for the birds was winding up in some old shoes he had placed in the shed. Now, he purposely leaves things out of the box, confident they will be put back in their place by morning!
Before this, a similar incident occurred in 2019
Surprisingly, this isn't the first time a mouse has been caught organizing human spaces. In 2019, a viral video showed a mouse "stockpiling" items in a man's shed near Bristol. Steve Mckears thought he "was going mad" when screws and metal objects kept reappearing in a box containing bird feed. After setting up a camera, he captured footage of the mouse placing screws and other metal objects in the container.
Research says mice and rodents are 'highly intelligent'
According to PETA, mice and rats are two extremely smart rodent species. They are excellent learners who grasp concepts easily. Additionally, the organization also mentions that these creatures are "natural students." Although rats are much smaller than dogs, they can still reason and solve problems just as well as them. Scientific American writes that mice and rodents are "incredibly clever at finding food," which highlights their ability to also find other things in your house.
