Himalayan rat

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Himalayan rat
Systematics
Family : Long-tailed mice (Muridae)
Subfamily : Old World Mice (Murinae)
Tribe : Rattini
Rattus group
Genre : Rats ( rattus )
Type : Himalayan rat
Scientific name
Rattus nitidus
( Hodgson , 1945)

The Himalayan rat ( Rattus nitidus ) is a Southeast Asian member of the genus Rattus . It lives in localities as well as on agricultural fields and can occur there as a pest .

Sometimes it is also understood as the subspecies R. rattus nitidus of the house rat ( Rattus rattus ).

Appearance

The Himalayan rat is a medium-sized rat with a long, wide snout and large, slightly hairy ears. Their fur is soft, brown on the back and beige on the belly. An adult Himalayan rat can reach a head-trunk length of 158 to 177 millimeters with an average weight of 136 grams . Animals in the northern range are probably larger than animals from more southern areas, for example males weighing 273 grams and females (not pregnant) weighing 320 grams were caught in Sìchuān . The tail, the top of which can be slightly darker than the underside, is roughly as long as the length of the head and torso.

distribution

Distribution of the Himalayan rat

Himalayan rats are found in mountainous areas in northern India , Nepal , northern Myanmar , northern and central Thailand , southern China (including Hainan ) and Vietnam .

Furthermore, there are isolated populations - probably spread by humans - on some Southeast Asian islands: Luzón , Central Sulawesi , Seram and the northwestern peninsula ( Kepala Burung ) of New Guinea .

Habitat

Cultivation areas of various crops ( rice , wheat , maize and potatoes ) as well as orchards are very often populated, but also towns and buildings if the density of house rats is not too high . Little is known about where exactly Himalayan rats make their nests. It is very likely in or near buildings. In areas where they appear as pests, burrows are dug in fields.

Populations on Seram and Kepala Burung have successfully settled in mountain forests.

reproduction

Male Himalayan rats reach their reproductive capacity between 63 and 80 days, females with an average of 119 days. Litters can occur almost all year round; there does not seem to be any reproduction between December and February (data from Sìchuān ). There are two main periods of reproduction, March and April and the months of August and September, which is most likely due to agriculture. The number of young animals per litter can vary from 4 to 15, the mean is 8.25. There can be four litters a year in captivity, but likely only two to three in the wild. Himalayan rats live to be around one year old.

Himalayan rats as pests

This species is seen as one of the main pests of rice and wheat in some areas (e.g. Sìchuān) . But it also occurs as a pest in localities, mainly in mountainous regions.

swell

  • KP Aplin, PR Brown, J. Jacob, CJ Krebs, GR Singleton: Field methods for rodent studies in Asia and the Indo-Pacific (= ACIAR Monograph. No. 100). Australian Center for International Agricultural Research, Canberra 2003, ISBN 1-86320-393-1 (book), ISBN 1-86320-394-X (electronic).

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