Wednesday 4 August 2010

Brown Rat

They say you're never more than a few feet away from a Rat, although it's not often you actually see one, especially in the daylight hours.

The Brown Rat aka Common Rat, Norway Rat, Sewer Rat or Wharf Rat is widespread on every one of earths continents except Antarctica.
They are thought to have originated from China and have spread to the four corners of the earth over the centuries.
The first Brown Rats in Europe are thought to have arrived sometime in the middle ages.


The Brown Rat is a very good swimmer both above and underwater, but unlike it's cousin the Black Rat isn't much of a climber.
Brown Rats are burrowing animals and live a complex labyrinth of tunnels that are painstakingly excavated.

The Brown Rats diets consists of just about anything edible, but it's favourite and most natural food is cereal.
They really aren't fussy though and thrive on human waste, as well as less appetising products like paper, cardboard and electricity cables!

Like most people, I'm not a great lover of Rats and certainly wouldn't want them in my home, but over the years I've come to respect them a little bit more than I used to.

On my my photographic travels, I encounter Rats at a number of different locations and habitats.
By far the most common place I see these Rodents is around bird feeding stations at nature reserves...Especially the ones that are viewed from hides.


Rats are on the whole very shy creatures and will normally do anything to avoid human contact.
All they really want to do is eat, sleep, reproduce and be left alone to go about their business.
It's a shame really that they carry a arsenal of deadly diseases, because if you ever encounter one long enough to watch them close up, they really are quite fascinating little animals.


1 comment:

  1. I rarelly...i mean never saw an image of a rat on a photblog! This is very original post, if a magazine is looking for a rat image...you will be one of the few who has one! ;) Very intersting to ;)

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