Brown Rat
Photo © Phil James
Photo © Phil James — CC BY 4.0 — Source: iNaturalist photo #191133092The 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, common species of 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. It weighs between 140 and 500 g (4.9 and 17.6 oz). Thought to have originated in northern China and neighbouring areas, it has now spread to all continents except Antarctica, and is the dominant rat in Europe and much of North America, having become naturalised across the world. With rare exceptions, the brown rat lives wherever humans live, particularly in urban areas. It is omnivorous, reproduces rapidly, and can be a vector for several human diseases. Selective breeding of the brown rat has produced the fancy rat (rats kept as pets), as well as the laboratory rat (rats used as model organisms in biological research). Both fancy rats and laboratory rats are of the domesticated subspecies Rattus norvegicus domestica. Studies of wild rats in New York City have shown that populations living in different neighborhoods can evolve distinct…
S’Albufera Natural Park
Platja de Muro, Spain
+253 birds+6 mammals
Where Mediterranean lagoons meet the Balearic coast, S'Albufera stretches across nearly 1,600 hectares of wetland and dune systems that rank among Europe's most ecologically vital shallow-water…
VIEW NATURAL PARKL’Albufera Natural Park
València, Spain
+321 birds+18 mammals
Where shallow lagoons meet Mediterranean coastal marshland, L'Albufera Nature Park unfolds as one of Spain's most vital wetland complexes. This protected landscape, designated under IUCN Category…
VIEW NATURAL PARKHarz National Park
Harz (LK Goslar), Germany
+141 birds+38 mammals
Where granite peaks rise above beech and spruce forests, the Harz unfolds as one of Germany's most biodiverse upland landscapes. Straddling the border between Lower Saxony…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKLower Saxon Wadden Sea National Park
Norderney, Germany
+193 birds+12 mammals
Where the North Sea meets the German coast, a vast expanse of tidal mudflats, salt marshes, and shallow waters creates one of Europe's most dynamic estuarine…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKSchleswig-Holsteinisches Wattenmeer National Park
Germany
+378 birds+49 mammals
Where the North Sea ebbs and flows across a vast expanse of exposed mud and sand, the Schleswig-Holsteinisches Wattenmeer National Park reveals one of Europe's most…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKExmoor National Park
Somerset, United Kingdom
+159 birds+32 mammals
Where the Bristol Channel wind scours windswept moorland into rolling open heath, Exmoor rises from the Somerset coast as one of England's most rugged upland landscapes.…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKPembrokeshire Coast National Park
Pembrokeshire, United Kingdom
+250 birds+41 mammals
Where the Cambrian coastline meets the Celtic Sea, cliff-top moorland and hidden coves define a landscape carved by 300 million years of geological drama. Pembrokeshire Coast…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKEryri National Park
Gwynedd, United Kingdom
+199 birds+36 mammals
Where granite peaks rise abruptly from the Snowdonia landscape, Eryri National Park encompasses one of Britain's most dramatic mountain terrain. The park's rugged plateaus, deep glacial…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKLake District National Park
Westmorland and Furness, United Kingdom
+209 birds+36 mammals
Where slate fells rise steeply from mirror-still waters, the Lake District unfolds as one of Britain's most ecologically intricate mountain landscapes. The park's patchwork of deep…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKYorkshire Dales National Park
North Yorkshire, United Kingdom
+169 birds+25 mammals
Limestone pavements and deep limestone gorges carved by glaciation dominate the landscape of the Yorkshire Dales, creating a landscape of exceptional geological drama where moorland plateaus…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKBannau Brycheiniog National Park
Powys, United Kingdom
+178 birds+36 mammals
Where sandstone ridges rise above the rolling moorlands of mid-Wales, Bannau Brycheiniog National Park protects one of Britain's most compelling upland landscapes. The park's dramatic peaks,…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKNorth York Moors National Park
North Yorkshire, United Kingdom
+234 birds+32 mammals
Across the high moorlands of North Yorkshire, where heather and bilberry sprawl beneath vast skies, the landscape rises and falls in gentle undulation—a patchwork of open…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKSouth Downs National Park
Chichester, United Kingdom
+298 birds+45 mammals
Chalk downland ridges rise and fall across the South Downs, their open grasslands and beech hangers creating a mosaic of habitats that has shaped human settlement…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKDartmoor National Park
West Devon, United Kingdom
+162 birds+33 mammals
Across the high moorlands of Devon, where granite tors pierce through rolling heather and acid grassland, Dartmoor rises as one of Britain's most expansive upland wilderness…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKDelta de l’Ebre Natural Park
Eucaliptus, Spain
+341 birds+18 mammals
Where the Ebro River spreads into a vast labyrinth of shallow lagoons, reed beds, and brackish marshes before surrendering to the Mediterranean, one of southern Europe's…
VIEW NATURAL PARKDanube Delta Biosphere Reserve
Tulcea, Romania
+277 birds+27 mammals
Where the Danube surrenders to the Black Sea, a vast labyrinth of channels, reed beds, and freshwater lakes sprawls across nearly 13,400 square kilometers of eastern…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKCévennes National Park
Vebron, France
+187 birds+63 mammals
Where granite gorges slice through the limestone plateaux of southern France, the Cévennes Cœur National Park unfolds across nearly 3,500 square kilometres of one of Europe's…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKTúria Natural Park
València, Spain
+150 birds+21 mammals
Where the Túria riverbed winds through the lowlands south of Valencia, a sprawling natural park of nearly 440 square kilometres unfolds across one of Spain's most…
VIEW NATURAL PARKParc del Garraf
Rat-Penat, Spain
+190 birds+15 mammals
Where limestone ridges rise abruptly from the Mediterranean coastal plain, Parc Natural del Garraf unfolds across 319 square kilometers of one of Catalonia's most dramatic protected…
VIEW NATURAL PARKCollserola Natural Park
Barcelona, Spain
+194 birds+20 mammals
Where Mediterranean scrubland rises steeply from Barcelona's urban edge, Collserola unfolds across 173 square kilometres of low mountains that form a crucial ecological buffer between city…
VIEW NATURAL PARKParque Nacional de Galápagos
Santo Tomás, Ecuador
+139 birds+23 mammals
Volcanic peaks and weathered lava fields dominate this remote archipelago in the Pacific, where the interplay of cold ocean currents and tropical latitude creates an ecological…
VIEW ISLAND & ARCHIPELAGOGarden Route National Park
George, South Africa
+353 birds+54 mammals
Sweeping across the Western Cape's coastal and mountainous terrain, this sprawling national park encompasses over five thousand square kilometers of extraordinarily diverse landscape—from coastal limestone cliffs…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKGwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site
Area E (Moresby Island), Canada
+98 birds+8 mammals
Where temperate rainforest meets the Pacific's edge, the islands of southern Haida Gwaii rise as one of North America's most pristine coastal wilderness areas. Spanning approximately…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKPoint Pelee National Park
Leamington, Canada
+296 birds+14 mammals
Where Lake Erie's shallow waters meet the Ontario shoreline, a slender sandy peninsula juts into the Great Lakes like a natural funnel for migrating wildlife. This…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKRoyal National Park
Sydney, Australia
+296 birds+46 mammals
Where sandstone ridges plunge toward the Tasman Sea, Royal National Park unfolds across 343 square kilometres of southeastern Australian coastal wilderness. The park's defining character emerges…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKCamargue Regional Nature Park
Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, France
+378 birds+48 mammals
Where the Rhône Delta sprawls into the Mediterranean, a landscape of stark and haunting beauty emerges—vast salt marshes punctuated by shallow lagoons, reed beds, and scrubland…
VIEW NATURAL PARKRegional Park of the Catalan Pyrenees
Olette, France
+244 birds+63 mammals
Where granite peaks thrust skyward above cloud-laden valleys, a wild tapestry of Mediterranean and alpine ecosystems interweaves across the Franco-Spanish frontier. These Pyrenean slopes harbour extraordinary…
VIEW NATURE RESERVED’Armorique Regional Nature Park
Le Faou, France
+103 birds+23 mammals
Where granite ridges meet Atlantic moorland, one of Brittany's wildest regions reveals itself in layers of ecological richness. The landscape shifts dramatically from heather-clad uplands to…
VIEW NATURAL PARKCairngorms National Park
Muir, United Kingdom
+192 birds+31 mammals
Where ancient granite massifs rise above the Scottish Highlands, a subarctic wilderness unfolds across 1,748 square kilometres of raw, elemental terrain. Windswept plateaus give way to…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKLoch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park
Duchray, United Kingdom
+188 birds+40 mammals
Where ancient woodlands rise from glassy lochs and rugged Highland peaks pierce the lowland horizon, Scotland's most biodiverse landscape unfolds across 720 square kilometres of wild…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKSerra de Mariola Natural Park
Bocairent, Spain
+164 birds+19 mammals
Where limestone ridges rise above the Valencian interior, Serra de Mariola unfolds across 225 square kilometers of Mediterranean mountain terrain that shifts between dense evergreen woodland,…
VIEW NATURE RESERVEEstrecho Natural Park
Pedro Valiente, Spain
+281 birds+20 mammals
Where Mediterranean pine forests meet wind-sculpted coastal cliffs, one of Europe's most dynamic ecological crossroads unfolds across the Strait of Gibraltar. Spanning 686 square kilometers of…
VIEW NATURAL PARKLosiny Ostrov National Park
Balashikhinsky District, Russia
+173 birds+20 mammals
Across the forested plateaus of Moscow Oblast, where the Losinka River winds through mixed woodland and marshy clearings, lies a national park that captures the ecological…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKCirceo National Park
Italy
+232 birds+6 mammals
Where limestone headlands plunge toward the Tyrrhenian Sea, Circeo National Park preserves a rare mosaic of Mediterranean coastal habitats that few Italian reserves can match. The…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKCabo Peñas
Susacasa, Spain
+303 birds+21 mammals
Where sea cliffs rise sheer from the Bay of Biscay, Susacasa's observation point commands one of Asturias's most dramatic coastal vistas. The landscape here is defined…
VIEW OBSERVATION POINTBlue Mountains National Park
Australia
+220 birds+43 mammals
Dramatic sandstone cliffs rise in tiers across this mountainous plateau west of Sydney, their rust-coloured faces weathered into amphitheatres and gorges where eucalyptus forest clings to…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKKu-ring-gai Chase National Park
Sydney, Australia
+216 birds+39 mammals
Where Hawkesbury sandstone cliffs plunge toward sheltered bays and creeks, Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park unfolds across rugged terrain just north of Sydney, a mosaic of eucalyptus…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKPort-Cros National Park
Hyères, France
+271 birds+29 mammals
Where Mediterranean granite islands rise from crystalline waters off the Provençal coast, Port-Cros National Park protects one of Europe's most intact marine and terrestrial ecosystems. The…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKCalanques National Park
Bouches-du-Rhône, France
+233 birds+42 mammals
Where limestone cliffs plunge dramatically into crystalline Mediterranean waters, Calanques National Park preserves one of Europe's most striking coastal landscapes. These steep-sided inlets, carved by erosion…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKAlta Murgia National Park
Bari, Italy
+168 birds+6 mammals
Across the limestone plateaux of Apulia's interior, where the Adriatic's influence fades into continental warmth, lies a landscape sculpted by millennia of human pastoralism and Mediterranean…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKAlaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge
Alaska, United States
+391 birds+58 mammals
Where the North Pacific collides with Alaska's rugged coastline, a sprawling archipelago of islands, rocky outcrops, and coastal headlands forms one of North America's most remote…
VIEW WILDLIFE SANCTUARYBombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge
Kent County, United States
+323 birds+15 mammals
Tidal marshes and brackish shallows define this sanctuary on Delaware's Atlantic coast, where the meeting of freshwater and salt creates some of the Mid-Atlantic's most dynamic…
VIEW WILDLIFE SANCTUARYSeven Sisters National Nature Reserve
Eastbourne, United Kingdom
+190 birds+15 mammals
Where the South Downs meet the English Channel, the chalk cliffs of Seven Sisters rise in a dramatic sequence of white promontories that have shaped both…
VIEW NATURE RESERVERibble Estuary National Nature Reserve
Southport, United Kingdom
+197 birds+17 mammals
Where the Ribble flows into the Irish Sea, a landscape of mudflats, salt marshes and shallow pools creates one of northwest England's most dynamic estuarine ecosystems.…
VIEW NATURE RESERVENo community photos yet. Log in to add the first one.
No community observations of this species yet.