Black Rat

Despite its name, the black rat exhibits several color forms. It is usually black to light brown in color with a lighter underside. The black rat also has a scraggly coat of black fur and is slightly smaller than the brown rat. Their appearances are big brown eyes, a pointed nose, big ears, a slender body, and a very long tail compared to brown rats. Their skin color was from blackish brown to light golden brown, and their eye color was dark brown.

Black rats are excellent climbers, favoring roofs, rafters, attics, and trees. They used their tails as counterweights and had excellent balance. These rats have excellent spatial recall for safe routes and feeding routes. Black rats are fast runners and adept jumpers. Like semi-arboreal rats, black rats prefer to stay above ground or in high areas and avoid water, however they can swim less frequently and with less assurance than brown rats.

Some black rats carry many nasty diseases which they can spread to humans, normally through their urine. including; Leptospirosis or Weil's disease, Salmonella, Listeria, Toxoplasma gondii and Hantavirus. Black Rats can inflict a great amount of structural damage.

The common symptoms of a rat bite are pain, redness, swelling around the bite and, if secondary infection occurs, a weeping, pus-filled wound. Other rat bite symptoms may include those associated with bacterial infections known as streptobacillary rat bite fever and spirillary rat bite fever.

Black rats, which scale trees and enter homes through coin-sized holes in attics, find peanut butter irresistible. Brown rats, which typically rummage through garbage and snake their way inside homes via tiny cracks, can be tempted with smelly cheese.

Black rat populations can increase exponentially under certain circumstances, perhaps having to do with the timing of the fruiting of the bamboo plant, and cause devastation to the plantings of subsistence farmers; this phenomenon is known as mautam in parts of India.

• Outbreak

Black rats are considered omnivores and eat a wide range of foods, including seeds, fruit, stems, leaves, fungi, and a variety of invertebrates and vertebrates. They are generalists, and thus not very specific in their food preferences, which is indicated by their tendency to feed on any meal provided for cows, swine, chickens, cats, and dogs. The predator for rats are weasels, hawks, eagles, falcons, cats, wolves, catfishes, sharks, to even larger ones. They are a threat to many natural habitats because they feed on birds and insects. Black rats have been found to occupy dens located in trees, as well as on the ground. 

Reproduction

• Breeding frequency: Year-round in warm climates; seasonal in colder areas.

• Gestation: ~21–24 days.

• Litter size: 5–12 pups.

• Sexual maturity: ~3–5 months.

• Lifespan: ~1–3 years in the wild; longer in captivity.

Even when both wild and domesticated, the black rat will often show aggressive behavior, whether in a cage or outside. Black rats ran away from other rivalries, like brown rats and house mice. Black rats were very involved with various diseases after the Black Death.

Plus, both black rats and brown rats are known to be quite aggressive, and they can bite if they feel threatened. Despite the black rat's tendency to displace native species, it can also aid in increasing species population numbers and maintaining species diversity. The bush rat, a common vector for spore dispersal of truffles, has been extirpated from many micro-habitats in Australia.

Threats

• Competition with brown rats (Rattus norvegicus)

• Overhunting.

• Habitat loss in native and man-made ranges.

• Considered a major threat to island biodiversity, especially ground-nesting birds (e.g., petrels, seabirds).

• Subject to eradication efforts on islands to protect native species.

Conservation Status

• IUCN Red List: Least Concern (LC)

Conservation Efforts

• Habitat protection.

• Anti-poaching enforcement.

• Rescue and rehabilitation centers.

• Awareness campaigns against illegal pet trade.

Originally an Indomalayan species, the black rat was widely introduced across the globe as a result of human activities. In Europe, it has been present since ancient times and is found in most countries. A widespread and abundant species.

During The Recollections of Queen Arianna (TROQA) saga in the 2600s and 2700s, the "Sky People," or Terrans from Earth, brought the black rat to two exoplanets that resembled Earth: Reinachos from Cygnus and Berbania from Ursa Major. Despite the death of our planet, conservation efforts are helping this species recover from endangerment or near extinction. The rat became an invasive species as a result of human interactions for game hunting and rewilding. In two exoplanets that resembled Earth, the black rat lived in conditions and climates identical to those of Earth.

• Movement Pattern: Random

• Individual Type: Nomadic

• Population Trend: Increasing

• Population: ???

• Locomotion: Amphibious

• Habitat: Polar; Tundra; Taiga; Montane Grasslands and Shrublands; Temperate Coniferous Forests; Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests; Temperate Deciduous Forests; Temperate Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands; Subtropical Coniferous Forests; Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests; Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forests; Subtropical Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands; Salt Flats; Stone Forest; Tropical Coniferous Forests; Tropical Moist Broadleaf Forests; Tropical Dry Broadleaf Forests; Tropical Grasslands; Tropical Savannas and Shrublands; Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands, and Scrub; Mushroom Forests; Mushroom Fields; Deserts and Xeric Shrublands; Badlands; Flooded Grasslands and Savannas; Swamp; Bayous/Billabongs; Riparian; Wetland; Mangrove Forest; Cold Bamboo Forests; Tropical Bamboo Forests; Air-breathing Coral Reefs; Graveyard Vale; Mountain.

• Earth: 

  • Extant (Resident): India; Pakistan

  • Extant & Introduced (Resident): Albania; Algeria; Austria; Belgium; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Brunei Darussalam; Bulgaria; Cambodia; Croatia; Cyprus; Czechia; Estonia; France; Germany; Greece; Hungary; Indonesia; Iran, Islamic Republic of; Ireland; Italy; Laos; Latvia; Liechtenstein; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Malaysia; Malta; Moldova; Montenegro; Morocco; Myanmar; Netherlands; North Macedonia; Papua New Guinea; Philippines; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Russian Federation; Serbia; Singapore; Slovenia; Spain; Switzerland; Thailand; Tunisia; Turkiye; United Kingdom; Viet Nam

• Berbania: worldwide

• Reinachos: worldwide

• Delphia: worldwide

Black rat likes cheese or seeds to feed three or four times until yours.

Evidence such as DNA and bone fragments also indicates that it did not originate in Europe but migrated from India to Pakistan. It probably spread across Europe in the wake of the Roman conquest.

• Tagalog: Dagang itim

• Indonesian: Tikus hitam

• Scottish Gaelic: Radan dubh

• 26/01/2023 - Added references and others.

• Black rats are native to somewhere in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from Malay Peninsula to possibly Tawi-Tawi Islands. During contacting Europeans and Asians to Africans unbeknownst to the black rodent are passive travelers.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_rat

• https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/19360/192565917

• https://bpca.org.uk/pest-aware/Page-3/black-rat-control-how-to-get-rid-of-black-rats-bpca-a-z-of-pests/189181

• https://www.readypestnc.com/blog/post/the-black-rat-or-the-brown-rat-which-is-a-bigger-problem-in-holly-springs

• https://www.orkin.com/pests/rodents/rats/rat-bites

• https://www.deviantart.com/ognimdo2002/art/Black-Rat-906687985