View source for Wistar rats

[[File:Wistar rat.jpg|frameless|right]]
The Wistar rat is an outbred albino rat.  This breed was developed at the [[wikipedia:Wistar_Institute|Wistar Institute]] in 1906 for use in biological and medical research, and is notably the first rat developed to serve as a [[wikipedia:Model_organism|model organism]] at a time when laboratories primarily used the [[wikipedia:House_mouse|house mouse]] (''Mus musculus''). More than half of all laboratory rat strains are descended from the original colony established by physiologist [[wikipedia:Henry_Herbert_Donaldson|Henry Herbert Donaldson]], scientific administrator [[wikipedia:Milton_J._Greenman|Milton J. Greenman]], and genetic researcher/embryologist [[wikipedia:Helen_Dean_King|Helen Dean King]].<ref>Clause, B. T. (1998). [http://www.amphilsoc.org/library/mendel/1998.htm "The Wistar Institute Archives: Rats (Not Mice) and History"], ''[[Mendel Newsletter]]'' February, 1998. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061216054827/http://www.amphilsoc.org/library/mendel/1998.htm|date=16 December 2006}}</ref><ref name="wistar">{{cite web|url=http://www.wistar.org/about_wistar/history.html|title=The Wistar Institute: History|date=2007|publisher=The [[Wistar Institute]]|access-date=9 November 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081017070234/http://www.wistar.org/about_wistar/history.html|archive-date=17 October 2008}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Clause|first=Bonnie Tocher|date=1993|title=The Wistar rat as a right choice: Establishing mammalian standards and the ideal of a standardized mammal|url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/BF01061973|journal=[[Journal of the History of Biology]]|language=en|volume=26|issue=2|pages=329–349|doi=10.1007/BF01061973|pmid=11623164|s2cid=12428625|issn=0022-5010}}</ref>

The Wistar rat is currently one of the most popular rats used for laboratory research. It is characterized by its wide head, long ears, and a tail length that is always less than its body length. The Sprague Dawley and Long–Evans were developed from Wistars. Wistars are more active than others like Sprague Dawleys. The [[wikipedia:Spontaneously_hypertensive_rat|spontaneously hypertensive rat]] and the [[wikipedia:Lewis_rat|Lewis]] are other well-known stocks developed from Wistars.

== See Also ==

* [[Wikipedia:Wistar rats|Wikipedia article]]

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Model Organism]]