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The brown rat (Rattus norvegicus), also known as the common rat, street rat, sewer rat, wharf rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat and Norwegian rat, is a widespread species of common rat. One of the largest muroids , it is a brown or grey rodent with a body length of up to 28 cm (11 in) long, and a tail slightly shorter than that.
The best-known Rattus species are the black rat (R. rattus) and the brown rat (R. norvegicus). The group is generally known as the Old World rats or true rats and originated in Asia. Rats are bigger than most Old World mice, which are their relatives, but seldom weigh over 500 grams (1.1 lb) in the wild.
The fancy rat (Rattus norvegicus domestica) is the domesticated form of Rattus norvegicus, the brown rat, [1] and the most common species of rat kept as a pet.The name fancy rat derives from the use of the adjective fancy for a hobby, also seen in "animal fancy", a hobby involving the appreciation, promotion, or breeding of pet or domestic animals.
Brown rats are the undisputed winners of the real rat race. New research suggests that they crawled off ships arriving in North America earlier than previously thought and out-competed rodent ...
The brown rat, or Rattus norvegicus, isn't all that different from the average New Yorker. It hates long commutes and loves a reliable food source, which it will keep returning to again and again ...
Pet rats are typically variants of the species brown rat, but black rats and giant pouched rats are also sometimes kept. Pet rats behave differently from their wild counterparts depending on how many generations they have been kept as pets. [20] Pet rats do not pose any more of a risk of zoonotic diseases than pets such as cats or dogs. [21]
By 2014, the city's rat population was dominated by the brown rat. [6] [7] The brown rat is 16 to 20 inches (410 to 510 mm) long and weighs 1 to 2 pounds (450 to 910 g). [7] It is brown or gray in color with a lighter-colored belly. [7] It is nocturnal, and sleeps approximately 10 hours a day.
A working rat is any rat which is trained for specific tasks as a working animal. In many cases, working rats are domesticated brown rats . However, other species, notably the Gambian pouched rat , have also been trained to assist humans.