Malay field rat

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Malay field rat
Systematics
Family : Long-tailed mice (Muridae)
Subfamily : Old World Mice (Murinae)
Tribe : Rattini
Rattus group
Genre : Rats ( rattus )
Type : Malay field rat
Scientific name
Rattus tiomanicus
( Miller , 1900)

The Malay field rat ( Rattus tiomanicus ) is a rat and belongs to the subfamily of Old World mice (Murinae).

features

This species becomes 14 to 19 centimeters ( head-trunk length ) long. The tail is usually a little longer at 12 to 20 centimeters. Adults weigh 80 to 130 grams. The fur is brown on the upper side, the belly side is light gray to white. It does not have a thick coat. The tail is dark on the top and light colored on the underside, the ears are large and thinly haired. The feet are broad and not hairy on top. R. tiomanicus is mainly nocturnal.

distribution

She lives on the Malay Peninsula , Borneo , Palawan , Sumatra , Java and the neighboring small islands. It is still unclear whether the island population of this widespread species are subspecies or separate species. Forms like Rattus mindorensis ( Mindoro ), Rattus simalurensis ( Simalur Islands ) and Rattus burrus ( Nicobar Islands ) may also belong to this species. It was formerly also called Rattus jalorensis or is confused with the house rat ( Rattus rattus ). It also occurs on small islands such as Enggano (near Sumatra) and Arena , Bancalan , Busuanga , Calauit and Palawan in the southwest of the Philippines .

Way of life

The Malay field rat is a forest-dwelling rat that occurs predominantly in habitats such as secondary forests , coastal forests, mangroves , grasslands, and plantations . Settlements are rarely inhabited and only inhabited if there are no house rats . It does not build any underground burrows, nests are more likely to be found in the crowns of palm trees and in hollow or on the ground trunks. The food mainly consists of fruits, in oil palm plantations R. tiomanicus can destroy up to 5% of the harvest. This species creates food reserves in clusters of cut fern fronds and in old trunks. Subterranean burrows made by other rats are rarely used for this purpose. In plantations, individual animals inhabit very small areas that can only include a few neighboring palm trees.

Reproduction can occur year-round, with two to seven pups per litter.

literature

  • Ken P. Aplin, Peter R. Brown, Jens Jacob, Charles J. Krebs, Grant R. Singleton: Field methods for rodent studies in Asia and the Indo-Pacific (= ACIAR monograph. 100). Australian center for international agricultural research, Canberra 2003, ISBN 1-86320-393-1 , aciar.gov.au (PDF; 3.13 MB).

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