Animalia > Chordata > Mammalia > Rodentia > Muridae > Rattus > Rattus rattus

Rattus rattus (black rat)

Synonyms:
Language: French

Wikipedia Abstract

The black rat (Rattus rattus, also known as the ship rat, roof rat, house rat, Alexandrine rat, old English rat, and other names) is a common long-tailed rodent of the genus Rattus (rats) in the subfamily Murinae (murine rodents). The species originated in tropical Asia and spread through the Near East in Roman times before reaching Europe by the 1st century and spreading with Europeans across the world. Black rats are generalist omnivores. They are serious pests to farmers as they eat a wide range of agricultural crops.
View Wikipedia Record: Rattus rattus

Infraspecies

Rattus rattus alexandrinus
Rattus rattus frugivorus
Rattus rattus rattus

Invasive Species

View ISSG Record: Rattus rattus

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
1
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
11
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 3.34
EDGE Score: 1.47
Learn more at EDGE of Existence programme

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  200 grams
Birth Weight [1]  5 grams
Diet [2]  Carnivore (Invertebrates), Frugivore, Granivore, Herbivore
Diet - Fruit [2]  20 %
Diet - Invertibrates [2]  30 %
Diet - Plants [2]  10 %
Diet - Seeds [2]  40 %
Forages - Ground [2]  100 %
Female Maturity [1]  90 days
Male Maturity [1]  3 months 22 days
Gestation [1]  22 days
Litter Size [1]  7
Litters / Year [1]  4
Maximum Longevity [1]  4 years
Nocturnal [3]  Yes
Snout to Vent Length [4]  8 inches (20 cm)
Weaning [1]  26 days
Habitat Substrate [3]  Arboreal

Ecoregions

Name Countries Ecozone Biome Species Report Climate Land
Use
Al Hajar montane woodlands Oman Afrotropic Temperate Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands
Arabian Peninsula coastal fog desert Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia Afrotropic Deserts and Xeric Shrublands
Gulf of Oman desert and semi-desert Oman, United Arab Emirates Afrotropic Deserts and Xeric Shrublands
Southwestern Arabian foothills savanna Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Oman Afrotropic Deserts and Xeric Shrublands
Southwestern Arabian montane woodlands Yemen, Saudi Arabia Afrotropic Deserts and Xeric Shrublands

Protected Areas

+ Click for partial list (100)Full list (199)

Prey / Diet

Prey / Diet Overlap

Predators

Consumers

Range Map

External References

NatureServe Explorer

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1de Magalhaes, J. P., and Costa, J. (2009) A database of vertebrate longevity records and their relation to other life-history traits. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22(8):1770-1774
♦ 2Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027
♦ 3Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2006. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed February 01, 2010 at animaldiversity.org
♦ 4Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109
♦ 5Jorrit H. Poelen, James D. Simons and Chris J. Mungall. (2014). Global Biotic Interactions: An open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics.
♦ 6"Fig-eating by vertebrate frugivores: a global review", MIKE SHANAHAN, SAMSON SO, STEPHEN G. COMPTON and RICHARD CORLETT, Biol. Rev. (2001), 76, pp. 529–572
♦ 7Glis glis (Rodentia: Gliridae), BORIS KRYSTUFEK, MAMMALIAN SPECIES 42(865):195–206 (2010)
♦ 8Anurans as prey: an exploratory analysis and size relationships between predators and their prey, L. F. Toledo, R. S. Ribeiro & C. F. B. Haddad, Journal of Zoology 271 (2007) 170–177
♦ 9Goodman, S. M., Creighton, G. K. & Raxworthy, C. (1991). The food habits of the Madagascar long-eared owl Asio madagascariensis in southeastern Madagascar Bonn. Zool. Beitr. 42: 21-26.
♦ 10Predation upon small mammals in shrublands and grasslands of southern South America: ecological correlates and presumable consequences, Fabian M. Jaksic, Revista Chilena de Historia Natural 59: 209-221 (1986)
♦ 11Population growth and density, diet and breeding success of striated caracaras Phalcoboenus australis on New Island, Falkland Islands, Paulo Catry, Miguel Lecoq, Ian J. Strange, Polar Biology Volume 31, Number 10, 1167-1174
♦ 12NESTING BIOLOGY AND DIET OF THE MADAGASCAR HARRIER (CIRCUS MACROSCELES) IN AMBOHITANTELY SPECIAL RESERVE, MADAGASCAR, Lily-Arison Rene de Roland, Jeanneney Rabearivony, and Ignace Randriamanga, J. Raptor Res. 38(3):256-262
♦ 13Species Interactions of Australia Database, Atlas of Living Australia, Version ala-csv-2012-11-19
♦ 14Eira barbara, Steven J. Presley, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 636, pp. 1–6 (2000)
♦ 15Food habits of Brazilian boid snakes: overview and new data, with special reference to Corallus hortulanus, Lígia Pizzatto, Otavio A.V. Marques, Kátia Facure, Amphibia-Reptilia 30 (2009): 533-544
♦ 16THE PARASITIC FAUNA AND THE FOOD HABITS OF THE WILD JUNGLE CAT FELIS CHAUS FURAX DE WINTON, 1898 IN IRAQ, Mohammad K. Mohammad, Bull. Iraq nat. Hist. Mus. (2008) 10(2): 65-78
♦ 17Galictis cuja, Eric Yensen and Teresa Tarifa, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 728, pp. 1–8 (2003)
♦ 18Body size, diet and reproductive ecology of Coluber hippocrepis in the Rif (Northern Morocco), Juan M. Pleguezuelos, Soumia Fahd, Amphibia-Reptilia 25: 287-302 (2004)
♦ 19POPULATION STATUS AND DIET OF THE YELLOW-LEGGED GULL IN THE AZORES, VERÓNICA C. NEVES, NADIA MURDOCH & ROBERT W. FURNESS, ARQUIPÉLAGO. Ciências Biológicas e Marinhas Nº 23A (2006): 59-73
♦ 20DIET AND ACTIVITY PATTERNS OF LEOPARDUS GUIGNA IN RELATION TO PREY AVAILABILITY IN FOREST FRAGMENTS OF THE CHILEAN TEMPERATE RAINFOREST, Stephania Eugenia Galuppo Gaete, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, Masters thesis, September 2014
♦ 21Feeding Habits of the Diamond Python, Morelia s. spilota: Ambush Predation by a Boid Snake, David J. Slip and Richard Shine, Journal of Herpetology, Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 323-330, 1988
♦ 22The diet of moreporks (Ninox novaeseelandiae) in relation to prey availability, and their roost site characteristics and breeding success on Ponui Island, Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand., Kirsty Marie Denny, A thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Ecology at Massey University, Albany New Zealand. (2009)
♦ 23Food Habits of the Snake Psammophis phillipsi from the Continuous Rain-Forest Region of Southern Nigeria (West Africa), GODFREY C. AKANI, EDEM A. ENIANG, ITOHOWO J. EKPO, FRANCESCO M. ANGELICI, AND LUCA LUISELLI, Journal of Herpetology, Vol. 37, No. 1, pp. 208–211, 2003
♦ 24PREY REMAINS OF THE JAMAICAN OWL (PSEUDOSCOPS GRAMMICUS), GARY R. GRAVES, J. Carib. Ornithol. 20:53-55, 2007
♦ 25Contribution to the study of the diet of four owl species (Aves, Strigiformes) from mainland and island areas of Greece, Haralambos Alivizatos, Vassilis Goutner and Stamatis Zogaris, Belg. J. Zool., 135 (2) : 109-118
♦ 26The Diet of the Madagascar Red Owl (Tyto soumagnei) on the Masoala Peninsula, Madagascar, Steven M. Goodman and Russell Thorstrom, Wilson Bull., 110(3), 1998, pp. 417-421
♦ 27Correlates between morphology, diet and foraging mode in the Ladder Snake Rhinechis scalaris (Schinz, 1822), Juan M. Pleguezuelos , Juan R. Fernández-Cardenete , Santiago Honrubia , Mónica Feriche , Carmen Villafranca, Contributions to Zoology, 76 (3) – 2007
♦ 28International Flea Database
♦ 29Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0