Rattus fuscipes
1 Bush Rat at Cotter River, ACT
Identify this sighting
| Rattus fuscipes | DonFletcher | 8 Apr 2022 | |
| Unverified | Christine | 8 Apr 2022 |
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User's notes
Large dead rat(?) on the track, spotted by Suzi. Posted as not really certain what it is. My size 8 for size comparison.
2 comments
8 Apr 2022
Rodents are hard to identify from photos at the best of times, but you must like making it really hard. This looks like it was run over or jumped on. Among the local species that look anything like this specimen, if the tail is bent forward over the back and reaches past the nose it is Rattus rattus the introduced Black Rat. Which is hard to tell because the body is so crunched up. And does the ear folded forward reach past the mid point of the eye? What about the pattern on the soles of the hind feet? I cant tell about the ear or the feet but the tail looks shorter than the head-body length and has more hair than most R. rattus I have seen so I guess it is Rattus fuscipes, the native Bush Rat.
8 Apr 2022
Don, sorry for the terrible photos, but obviously the rat had been dead for a while and it was rather unpleasant being anywhere near it, so it was not a heap of fun to photograph! If I had known about the hind feet I would have endeavoured to get better photos of them, I guess I'll know for next time. @SuziBond will be interested to know the id though, so thanks!
Location information
- Coordinates 148.764617-35.492154
- Maps Namadgi National Park
- Places Cotter River, ACT
Sighting information
- 1 Abundance
- 21 Mar 2022 01:02 PM Recorded on
- Christine Recorded by
- Deceased Animal health
Collections
Species information
- Rattus fuscipes Scientific name
- Bush Rat Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Local native
- Non-invasive or negligible
- Up to 1585.55m Recorded at altitude
Record quality
Quality score
5 / 7
- Images or audio
- More than one media file
- Verified by an expert moderator
- Description
- Additional attributes
- Nearby sighting(s) of same species
- GPS evidence of location