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The Black Rat (Rattus rattus) (alt. Asian black rat, Ship Rat, Roof Rat, House Rat, Alexandrine Rat, Old English Rat) is a common long-tailed rodent
Rodent

Rodentia is an Order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing Incisors#The_Rodent_incisor in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....
 of the genus Rattus (rats) in the subfamily Murinae
Murinae

The Old World rats and mice, part of the subfamily Murinae in the Family Muridae, comprise at least 519 species. This subfamily is larger than all mammal families except the Cricetidae, and is larger than all mammal order s except the bats and the remainder of the rodents....
 (murine rodents). The species originated in tropical Asia
Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
 and spread through the Near East in Roman
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
 times before reaching Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
 by the 6th century and spreading with Europeans
European ethnic groups

The European peoples are the various nations and ethnic groups of Europe. European ethnology is the field of anthropology focusing on Europe....
 across the world.






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The Black Rat (Rattus rattus) (alt. Asian black rat, Ship Rat, Roof Rat, House Rat, Alexandrine Rat, Old English Rat) is a common long-tailed rodent
Rodent

Rodentia is an Order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing Incisors#The_Rodent_incisor in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....
 of the genus Rattus (rats) in the subfamily Murinae
Murinae

The Old World rats and mice, part of the subfamily Murinae in the Family Muridae, comprise at least 519 species. This subfamily is larger than all mammal families except the Cricetidae, and is larger than all mammal order s except the bats and the remainder of the rodents....
 (murine rodents). The species originated in tropical Asia
Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
 and spread through the Near East in Roman
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
 times before reaching Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
 by the 6th century and spreading with Europeans
European ethnic groups

The European peoples are the various nations and ethnic groups of Europe. European ethnology is the field of anthropology focusing on Europe....
 across the world. Today it is again largely confined to warmer areas, having been supplanted by the Brown Rat
Brown Rat

The brown rat, common rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat, Norwegian rat, or wharf rat is one of the best known and most common rats....
 (Rattus norvegicus) in cooler regions.

Despite its name, it exhibits several colour forms. Compared to the Brown Rat, it is a poor swimmer, but more agile and a better climber, tending even to flee upwards. It is usually black to light brown in colour with a lighter underside. A typical rat will be long with a further of tail. It is nocturnal
Nocturnal animal

As an animal behavior, nocturnality describes sleeping during the daytime and being active at night - the opposite of the diurnal animal human lifestyle, and that of those animals with which we are most familiar....
 and omnivorous
Omnivore

Omnivores are species that eating both plants and animals as their primary food source. They are opportunistic, general feeders not specifically adapted to eat and digest either meat or plant material exclusively....
, with a preference for grains. In a suitable environment it will breed throughout the year, with a female producing three to six litters of up to ten young. Females may regulate their production of offspring during times when food is scarce, throwing as few as only one litter a year. R. rattus lives for about 2–3 years. Social groups of up to sixty can be formed.

R. rattus has been known to fall victim of a number of diseases, of which bubonic plague
Bubonic plague

Plague is a deadly infectious disease caused by the Enterobacteriaceae Yersinia pestis . Plague is a zoonotic, primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas....
 (via the rat flea
Rat flea

The Oriental rat flea , also known as the tropical rat flea, is a parasite of rodents, primarily of the genus Rattus, and is primary vector for bubonic plague and murine typhus....
), typhus
Typhus

Epidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters. The causative organism is Rickettsia prowazekii, transmitted by the human body louse ....
, toxoplasmosis
Toxoplasmosis

Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease caused by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii. The parasite infects most genera of warm-blooded animals, including humans, but the primary host is the Felidae....
 and trichinosis
Trichinosis

Trichinosis, also called trichinellosis, or trichiniasis, is a parasitic disease caused by eating raw or undercooked pork and wild game infected with the larvae of a species of roundworm Trichinella spiralis, commonly called the trichina worm....
 are the most well known.

Black rats are sometimes kept as pets. However, most pet rats (or fancy rat
Fancy rat

The fancy rat is a domestication brown rat , which is the most common type of pet rat. The name fancy rat derives from the idea of animal fancy or the phrase, "to fancy" ....
s) are domesticated brown rat
Brown Rat

The brown rat, common rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat, Norwegian rat, or wharf rat is one of the best known and most common rats....
s.

In New Zealand, ship rats have an internationally unusual distribution and importance, in that they are utterly pervasive through native forests, scrublands, and urban parklands. This is typical only of oceanic islands that lack native mammals, especially rodents. Throughout most of the world, ship rats are found only in disturbed habitats near people, mainly near the coast. Ship rats are the most frequent predator of small forest birds, seeds, invertebrates, and perhaps lizards in New Zealand forests, and are key ecosystem changers. Controlling their abundance on usefully large areas of the New Zealand mainland is a crucial current challenge for conservation managers.

See also

  • Brown rat
    Brown Rat

    The brown rat, common rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat, Norwegian rat, or wharf rat is one of the best known and most common rats....
  • Karni Mata temple
    Karni Mata

    Karni Mata was a female sage and is worshipped as the incarnation of the goddess Durga by her followers. She is an official deity of the royal family of Jodhpur and Bikaner....
    , Deshnoke, Rajasthan, India.
  • Polynesian Rat
    Polynesian Rat

    The Polynesian Rat, or Pacific Rat , known to the Maori as kiore, is the third most widespread species of rat in the world behind the Brown Rat and Black Rat....
  • Rat flea
    Rat flea

    The Oriental rat flea , also known as the tropical rat flea, is a parasite of rodents, primarily of the genus Rattus, and is primary vector for bubonic plague and murine typhus....
  • Black Rats – nickname of Road Policing Unit
    Road Policing Unit

    The Road Policing Unit is the term for the Highway patrol within the majority of Policing in the United Kingdom....
     Officers (aka Police Traffic Officers)


External links

  • Photographs, video