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)