 Explore our wide variety of animal facts and learn some fun trivia about our friends in the animal kingdom.
 Fun Rat Facts for Kids
Check out our range of fun rat facts for kids. Learn how many species there are, where they live, trouble they sometimes cause and much more. Read on for all kinds of interesting information about rats! | | |
- Rats are a type of rodent with long tails.
- There are over 50 different species of rats.
- The most well-known species are brown rats and black rats.
- Rats are found almost everywhere humans are (except perhaps Antarctica).
- Male rats are known as “bucks”, females “does”, mothers “dams”, and young rats “kittens” (or “pups”).
- Some people keep rats as pets, they can be tamed to behave differently than they might in the wild.
- Rats have been used as therapy animals, aiding those with medical conditions or developmental disabilities.
- They can also be trained to detect landmines and diseases such as tuberculosis, using their excellent sense of smell.
- Rats live for around one year on average in the wild.
- Rats have been known to spread disease.
- When introduced to new environments that can quickly do large amounts of damage. They can sneak aboard ships and wreak havoc on local wildlife at the destination. Some estimate that half of all reptile and seabird extinctions are due to rats.
- Conservation efforts have been made to make some islands rat-free, including New Zealand’s Campbell Island, which saw the successful removal of rats in 2003, allowing plants to recover and rare animals such as the Campbell teal duck to be reintroduced.
| 
|
|
