Black Rat at Tathra Public School
Identification history
| Rattus rattus | 8 Jun 2020 | AndrewMcCutcheon |
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User's notes
Repeatedly appeared until 2.45 AM in front of the same motion sensing camera that recorded the Dusky Antechinus in the gully at the edge of Davidson St, Tathra.
2 comments
AndrewMcCutcheon
wrote:
9 Jun 2020
Jackie, I have added another image showing more of the tail/body length ratio, which is not complete but the best I have with this set of images. In this instance the problem for photographing larger animals is that the focal point has been brought much closer to the camera by placing a cut piece of a +2 reading glass lens over the camera lens. I do this for taking small dasyurids and native rodents to get a larger image of and improve the definition of these small mammals, to enable more accurate ID. While the rat was too large to get the whole animal into the image, it does show more clearly another diagnostic feature of R. rattus; the long guard hairs over the shorter and softer fur underneath. This is not so well defined with R. fuscipes.
AndrewMcCutcheon
wrote:
9 Jun 2020
That is a remarkably interesting individual Paul trapped at Wonboyn, and I would have to say I have never seen any Bush Rats quite like it. As there are only two species of Rattus this animal could possibly be (not including the more distinct R. lutreolus) for that location I think your ID is correct. The young Bush Rat Paul also found at Wonboyn in January 2018 and another submitted by John Tann from Bermagui have fur more like those I am familiar with in Victoria. I am getting a strong impression that R. fuscipes is a highly variable species in appearance and given its variability, long stiff guard hairs contrasting with soft fur underneath is not a guide. I have seen another R. fuscipes subspecies (coracius) in North Queensland, which looks so different I thought it was another species until I was told by a local expert that they were Bush Rats. In the future I will stick with ear size and tail length for positive ID between these two species of Rattus. I will look over some of my motion sensing camera images taken in the NSW south coast region again to make sure I have a few Rattus sp. correctly identified.
Location information
- Coordinates 149.980565-36.731370
- Places Tathra, NSW
Sighting information
- 4 - 15 Abundance
- 4 Dec 2013 12:10 AM Recorded on
- AndrewMcCutcheon Recorded by
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Collections
Mammals Rats Rodents AndrewMcCutcheon South Coast NatureMapr
Species information
- Rattus rattus Scientific name
- Black Rat Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Exotic
- Non-invasive or negligible
- Up to 1019.83m Recorded at altitude
- 116 images trained Machine learning
- External link More information
