Medium-sized rodents, the best known being the brown and black rats that live alongside people. The brown rat has been bred into the pet “fancy rat” and the laboratory rat.
Quick answers
What is it?Mammal
Carnivore?Omnivore
Dangerous?No
Domesticated?Yes
Awake when?Night
Mostly nocturnal or active at dusk.
Hibernates?No
Kept as a pet?Commonly
Fancy rats, bred from the brown rat, have been kept as pets since at least the late 1800s.
Do people eat it?In places
Rat meat is taboo in some cultures but a dietary staple in others.
At a glance
Found inWorldwide
HabitatTowns, Farmland
ColoursBrown, Black, White
SizeSmall
LengthAbout 40 cm including the tail (brown rat)
Weight140–500 g (brown rat)
Legs4
Covered inFur
Lives ingroups
Lives for2–3 years
Can swim
In the wild
- Where it lives
- Every region inhabited by people except Antarctica. There are 56 known species, many found only on islands.
- What it eats
- A true omnivore that eats almost anything, though cereals form much of a brown rat’s diet.
Did you know
Ticklish, and laughs ultrasonically when you tickle them.
Often confused with
- Mouse
Mice and rats are told apart mainly by size: “rat” is used for the bigger kinds, “mouse” for the smaller.
Compare side by side
On these lists
Sources
Play
Could you have guessed it?
A photo, a few hints, one guess. Same 438 animals.
