Mammals

Announcements

4 hrs ago

Hi All,Busy times at the moment for the team.NatureMapr is critical "nature positive" infrastructure for a nation that values it's biodiversity in the year 2025.Thanks to important support from our ma...


Continue reading

IMPORTANT NatureMapr Data Collector 6.2.0 mobile app update

Known issue affecting user registration via naturemapr mobile app

A handy feature

Calling all Moderators!

Discussion

KellyP wrote:
4 hrs ago
Hi @DonFletcher - thanks for your helpful response. I guess its possible they are juvenile Rattus rattus, but they don't look or behave like baby rats (my husband concurs) - but if they continue to hang around I will try to get more picks/video to see if I can get the underside of the rear feet and also see if they get bigger. When we were still feeding parrots (I know, not good, we don't do it now), the same rodents would come down from our trees and eat in the early evening - they looked the same as these ones vs the real rats we sometimes get in the shed.

Rattus rattus
DonFletcher wrote:
Yesterday
Hi @KellyP, thank you for the record. Did you consider juvenile Rattus rattus?
It would be lovely indeed to find a native species in a Canberra garden but to convince a moderator that a Rattus in the Canberra suburbs is a native species you would need very strong evidence. I think it would be the first ever. Mastacomys has very specific habitat requirements and has not been recorded in lowland areas (except during the last ice age). Rattus fuscipes does not penetrate suburbs anywhere, and must have disappeared long ago from the ACT lowands. If the video gives a lateral view or a look at the pads on the underside of the rear feet it could help with ID but Nature Mapper only accepts stills.

Rattus rattus
KellyP wrote:
Yesterday
Hi - Dear moderators - I was very close to these creatures, I have had pet rats and seen rattus rattus before in different settings, including in traps - these are not rattus rattus, they aren't big enough and the body, back leg shape and eyes are different. I have video as well - and they don't behave like a feral rat. They were also too large to be house mice and the ears are wrong. They look like the images on this site - hence my suggested identification.

Rattus rattus
4 Mar 2025
Thanks Don.

Rusa timoriensis
HelenCross wrote:
3 Mar 2025
Interesting!

Rattus rattus
800,176 sightings of 21,606 species from 13,496 contributors
CCA 3.0 | privacy
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of this land and acknowledge their continuing connection to their culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present.