Himalayan field rat

The Himalayan rat (Rattus nitidus ) is a Southeast Asian members of the genus Rattus. She lives in both places as well as agricultural fields, where it can occur as a pest.

It is sometimes regarded as a subspecies of R. rattus nitidus the house rat (Rattus rattus ).

Appearance

The Himalayan rat is a medium-sized rat with a long, broad snout and large, slightly hairy ears. Their fur is soft, brown on the back and beige on the abdomen. An adult rat can Himalayas at an average weight of 136 grams achieve a head-body length of 158-177 mm. Probably animals are larger than animals from more southern areas in the northern area of ​​distribution, so were in the Szechuan ( not pregnant ) caught with 320 grams of body weight with 273 grams of males and females. The tail, the top of which can be slightly darker than the bottom, is as long as the head -body length approximately.

Dissemination

Himalayan rats are found in mountainous areas of northern India, Nepal, the northern Myanmar, northern and central Thailand, southern China (including Hainan ), and Vietnam.

Furthermore, there is - probably spread by humans - scattered populations on some Southeast Asian islands: Luzon, Central Sulawesi, Seram and the northwestern peninsula ( Kepala Burung ) of New Guinea.

Habitat

Very often growing areas of various crops (rice, wheat, maize and potatoes) and fruit plantations are colonized at not too high density of black rats but also towns and buildings. Little is known about exactly where Himalayan rats create their nests. Most likely this is in or near buildings. In areas in which they occur as pests, burrows are dug in fields.

Populations on Seram and Kepala Burung have successfully settled in mountain forests.

Reproduction

Male Himalayan rats reach their reproductive ability at age 63-80 days, females with an average of 119 days. Almost throughout the year, it may come to the birth, in the months of December to February there seems to be no reproduction ( data from the Szechuan ). There are two main reproduction times that are in March and April and in the months of August and September, which is most likely due to agriculture. The number of pups per litter may vary 4 to 15, the average is 8.25. In captivity, it can come to four litters per year, in the wild, probably only two or three. Himalayan rats are about a year old.

Himalayan rats as pests

This species is seen in some areas (eg Szechuan ) as one of the main pests of rice and wheat cultivation. But even in towns, mainly in mountain regions, it occurs as a pest.

Swell

• KP Aplin, PR Brown, J. Jacob, CJ Krebs, Singleton GR: Field methods for rodent studies in Asia and the Indo- Pacific ( = ACIAR Monograph No. 100. . ). Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, Canberra, 2003, ISBN 1-86320-393-1 (Book), ISBN 1-86320-394- X ( electronic).

Weblink

• Rattus nitidus in the Red List of Threatened Species IUCN 2013.2. Posted by: Aplin, K., Lunde, D. & Molur, S., 2008, Retrieved on 6 December 2013.

• Rats