Black Rat at Florey, ACT
Identification history
| Rattus rattus | 11 Aug 2024 | DonFletcher | ||
| Perameles nasuta | 11 Aug 2024 | CarbonAI | ||
| Unidentified | 11 Aug 2024 | ianelz |
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User's notes
Found this deceased specimen on my drivaway. Determined that it was female and a marsupial due to presence of a pouch, see photo ...513. Possibly killed by local cat. Head and front limbs missing. Possibly Bush Rat (Rattus fuscipes) but need confirmation.
6 comments
DonFletcher
wrote:
11 Aug 2024
Hi @ianelz, thanks for the record. Australia has over 60 species of native rodents, i.e. not marsupials, as well as three introduced species which displace the native species and in the case of Rattus rattus also prey on native birds' nestlings and eggs. This specimen is almost certainly the introduced Rattus rattus, aka Black, Roof, or Ship Rat. They are probably present on most suburban blocks, eg in the roof space or sub-floor of the dwelling, in fruit trees, any shed, visiting any open compost device, and visiting any poultry feeder. Its best to learn to live with a few of them as they cant be eradicated and some of the methods you would have to use are potentially disastrous for local native predators, especially owls and other birds. I refer to baiting with use of '2nd generation' anticoagulant toxins such as Brodifacoum. Older toxins such as Warfarin are probably not as bad, but evidence is unclear.
ianelz
wrote:
11 Aug 2024
Suggestion that this specimen is Perameles nasuta is not in agreement with my observations. Description on animal diversity web, https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Perameles_nasuta/ suggests that Perameles nasuta is about 50 cm in length with a tail length of 15 cm. The specis that I observed was much shorter than 50 cm, even though head and forelimbs were missing and the tail is about the same length as the body. I have taken additional photographs with tape measure as scale. Tail length is approximatley 20 cm and remaining body about 16 cm. I also have picture of upper jaw showing two distinct yellow incissors. I do not seem to be able to upload additional photographs.
ianelz
wrote:
11 Aug 2024
Hi @DonFletcher I have considered that it may be Rattus rattus but the first photo above appears to show a pouch which would indicate that this is a marsupial. The length of the tail, approx 20 cm would suggest a black rat however. We don't get many rats around my part of Canberra. The brown snakes tend to take care of them.
DonFletcher
wrote:
11 Aug 2024
Hi @ianelz CarbonAI is the name of the artificial intelligence program which is learning to identify phots by us correcting its mistakes. Not a pouch (look again), Definitely R rattus.
ianelz
wrote:
11 Aug 2024
Hi, @DonFletcher I have uploaded the additional photos includin one showing the lower underside. There appear to be two openings, one down near the tail and the other firther up with a flap of skin just in front of it. I would be happy for this to be Rattus rattus as that would meant that local moggies have not killed a native animal.
DonFletcher
wrote:
12 Aug 2024
Thanks @ianelz, More photos is almost always better with ID. However from these photos I cant tell, but I could guess that a flap of skin in that location might be a scrotum or a penis sheath. And I don't know about the openings. Are any of them due to the predator? I confirmed as R rattus from the first photo. If you are not satisfied, for greater certainty, other moderators can be engaged (see names listed for each species category) but I am pretty confident what this specimen is, even without the head being present, partly because there are so few species of small mammals in Canberra. (None are native). The native Bush Rat (Rattus fuscipes) found in parts of Namadgi and Tidbinbilla, is notoriously similar in appearance to Rattus rattus but it has a tail shorter than its head-body length, which this specimen does not.
Location information
- Places Florey, ACT
Sighting information
Additional information
- Female Gender
- Deceased Animal health
Species information
- Rattus rattus Scientific name
- Black Rat Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Exotic
- Non-invasive or negligible
- Up to 1019.83m Recorded at altitude
- 116 images trained Machine learning
- External link More information
Record quality
- Images or audio
- More than one media file
- Verified by an expert moderator
- Nearby sighting(s) of same species
- GPS evidence of location
- Description
- Additional attributes
