Global rat distribution map

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Rats are medium-sized, long-tailed mammals. The best-known rat species are the black rat and the brown rat.

Black rat native to the Indian peninsula but is now spread globally.

Brown rat native to northern China, but today this species has conquered all landmasses except Antarctica and is the dominant rat species in the European continent and much of North America. The brown rat lives almost everywhere where people live, especially in residential areas.

According to the American Housing Survey in 2015, 18% of Philadelphia houses showed evidence of rats.

The map below shows the global distributions of this species.

According to this map, there are no rats in Alberta and Iceland.