What do rats look like?

The rat is the most common rodent on the planet, belonging to the mouse family. One of interesting facts about rats is their number, which exceeds the number of people living on earth by almost 2 times. Rodents can be found not only in the basement or porch, the decorative species of rats are tamed by humans and live next to it. Rats differ from mice not only the size, but also the anatomical structure of the body. You can compare animals by looking at the rat and mouse photos below.

Rodent Features

In total in nature there are more than six dozen rat species. A tree or forest rat lives in the forests of Mexico and the United States, a resident of the Nicobar Islands is a palm rat, which lives on palm trees, and Himalayan rodents can be found in Nepal, China or Vietnam. On the territory of our country are often found gray rats (pasyuki)as well as Turkestan and black rats (photos of rats of different species are presented below).

Many people are puzzled by the question of what a rat looks like and how it differs from a mouse. After all, not everyone is able to distinguish them in appearance. The stocky rodent has an oval body, the length of which does not exceed 30 cm, with the exception of species the biggest rats. The mass of a mammal can range from 40-500 g (depending on the species). The weight of the mouse does not exceed 100 g, and their body length is only 10 cm.

The body of the animal is covered with a dense relatively thick coat, which most often has a gray-brown or dark gray color. However, some representatives of these rodents have a coat of mixed yellow and even red tones. So pasyuki differ from the Turkestan rat not only in their large size, but also in the rough coat. Pasyuki rats look like the photo below.

You can recognize the rodent by its elongated pointed muzzle, on which there are small ears and eyes. In a black rodent, they are much larger than in a pasuk. Rat organ of vision poorly developed. On each jaw of a mammal there are two elongated incisors that need constant grinding, and molars growing in dense rows. They are distinguished by their extreme strength, which allows the animal to gnaw through concrete slabs, bricks and even hard metal.

Most species of rodents have a bare tail, the surface of which is covered with annular scales and rare hairs. Rat tail length in most cases commensurate with the body. However, both short-tailed and long-tailed specimens are found. So in Pasyuki, the tail never exceeds the size of the body, in black rats it is more fluffy and large. Below is a black rat in the photo.

Breeding

Animals can breed all year round. Pasyuki are particularly fertile, black rats are slightly inferior to them in this regard. The female carries offspring for about three weeks, in lactating individuals this period takes about a month. To the light little baby rats appear completely helpless and blind, their bare body has no hair at all. Below you can see what the rat in the photo looks like.

Cannibalism is inherent in mammals, in connection with which quite often the mother devours weak and not surviving cubs. Rat offspring can be eaten by a carefree male. Those cubs who managed to survive receive full care and care.

After 2-2.5 weeks, small rats become sighted, they will become independent after an incident of the same period. Rodents are ready for mating, having reached six months of age.