---
title: "Black Rat"
description: "Rattus rattus — Mammals. The black rat, also known as the roof rat, ship rat, or house rat, is a common long-tailed rodent of the stereotypical rat genus Rattus, in the subfamily Murinae."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/black-rat
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Black Rat

> Rattus rattus — Mammals. The black rat, also known as the roof rat, ship rat, or house rat, is a common long-tailed rodent of the stereotypical rat genus Rattus, in the subfamily Murinae.

- Scientific name: *Rattus rattus*
- Category: `mammals` (Mammals)
- Habitats: `urban` (Towns & gardens)
- iNaturalist observations: 18029
- Wikidata: [Q106133](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q106133)
- iNaturalist taxon: [44575](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/44575)

## Names

- en: Black Rat
- de: Hausratte
- es: Rata negra
- fr: Rat noir
- nl: Zwarte rat
- pt: Rato-preto
- pl: Szczur śniady

## Countries with the most observations

US (3864), AU (2648), NZ (1299), ES (855), CA (388), IT (304), PT (208), MX (186), BR (143), AR (139), ZA (128), FR (123)

## Summary

The black rat, also known as the roof rat, ship rat, or house rat, is a common long-tailed rodent of the stereotypical rat genus Rattus, in the subfamily Murinae. It is a generalist omnivore that can live on a wide variety of foods. It associates extensively with humans, and most populations are synanthropic. It likely originated in the Indian subcontinent, but is now found worldwide.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_rat

## Photo

![Black Rat](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/black-rat/medium.jpg)

Photo: Zoltán Stekkelpak · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/27454390

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/black-rat?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).