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Body alone is nearly a foot long. Saw this rodent in front of a restaurant. The party I was with was grossed out and decided to eat elsewhere, so I only got this one shot. Tail is very skinny, even at base, but rodent was very robust... like an overfed pet. Poor thing was very dead. I've never seen anything like this in the Dallas area. Not knowing when the last health inspection waa done at this restaurant, I emailed this to the health department and they had never seen anything like it, either. Face is shorter than typical rodents in this area.
It is neither a black rat or a roof rat. I've seen both in person. This fat rat had very loose skin - akin to the look of a chinchilla - it's robust hindquarters were not muscular or toned looking like those types of rats. This was not a sleek animal like those rodents. The face on this specimen is too broad and too short to even look similar. I wish I had taken more photos.
My guess is that the owners of the restaurant came in the back to set up for the day, overlooking the cadaver. The rat had likely been dead for several hours. There were flies burrowing into its flesh, but there was no odor - so it hadn't been there for days or anything. It was in front of (5 ft. to the right of the main entrance) to a very well-trafficked, popular restaurant - I cannot imagine it was there the previous day during normal operating hours without the owners knowing about it and removing it by then.
Roof rat seems like the only likely candidate, but that looks so strange with the little head, fat body and thin tail. Maybe something post-mortem?
I agree that the nose looks a bit short, but everything else points to black rat.
I think I would agree with the black rat suggestion. Have a look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_rat
Spotted on Oct 15, 2012
Submitted on Oct 16, 2012
