Rats

All 11 species of rats on WAnimals

Each one has its own full profile. This group does not replace them: it brings them together.

Conservation status

Where they live

Recorded in 109 countries. The ones with the most species in the group:

Where to see them

Did you know…?

• It is completely blind: its vestigial eyes, buried under the skin, no longer form images but retain the ability to detect light cycles and set its biological clock.

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• It navigates underground using the Earth's magnetic field, an ability demonstrated experimentally in the spalacids and very uncommon among mammals.

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• It can stay under for as long as 20 minutes by cutting blood flow to non-essential organs while it dives.

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• It digs burrows into the banks and swims well; it is in decline as riverside habitat is lost.

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• It is endemic to the Iberian Peninsula and France and is in sharp decline throughout its range: it is one of the Spanish mammals whose position has worsened fastest in recent decades, and yet it goes almost unnoticed.

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• Its disappearance has been linked directly to the spread of American mink that escaped from fur farms, which prey on it efficiently along stretches where it used to be abundant.

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• Its breeding cycle is among the fastest of any mammal: a female can give birth every month from two months of age, and its populations increase tenfold in a single favourable season.

Ecosystems