Rat

Rat Temporal range: Early Pleistocene – Recent
Brown rat
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Superfamily:	Muroidea*
Family:	Muridae
Subfamily:	Murinae
Genus:	Rattus

The rat is a medium-sized rodent. Rats are omnivores, they eat different types of food. Most rats are in the genus Rattus. There are about 56 different species of rats.

The best known rats are the black rat (Rattus rattus), and the brown rat (Rattus norvegicus). These two are known as Old World rats. The group has its origins in Asia.

Usually rats are bigger than mice. Rats are large muroid rodents, mice are small ones. The muroid family is very large and complex. That means the terms rat and mouse are nottaxonomically precise. A large muroid will often have rat in its name; a small one will often be called mouse. Besides members of the Rattus and Mus genera, others sometimes get these names, for example the pack rat and cotton mouse.

Some people keep rats as a pet. They are called fancy rats. Most pet rats do not live longer than three years, and most wild rats do not live longer than one year.^[1]

Rats are also used for their meat. Cambodia, Laos, Africa, China and Vietnam eat rat meat.

1. ↑ "How old is a rat in human years?". ratbehavior.org. Retrieved November 8, 2010.