Black rat (ship rat)

Scientific name: Rattus rattus

Family: Muridae

Appearance: The Black or Ship Rat is smaller than the Brown Rat and has sleek black or grey-brown fur, large eyes, almost hairless ears and a thin tail.

Size:  Head and body 15-24cm; Tail 11.5-26cm

Natural History: The Black Rat is now exceedingly rare in Great Britain, after centuries of targeted control and competition from the Brown Rat. It is largely nocturnal and lives in groups with a dominant male and several females. 

 (C) Susannah Anderson (shared under a CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license)