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Black Rat

Rattus rattus

Description:

Small skull found partially eaten with long orange brown teeth

Habitat:

Recreational park in Norfolk, Virginia

1 Species ID Suggestions

Black Rat
Rattus rattus Black rat


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1 Comment

MrsPbio
MrsPbio 8 years ago

Oh my. Definitely a rodent; from the size, probably a mouse. And from the looks of those long brown incisors, a starving mouse. Rodent incisors (those long orange teeth) continually grow throughout the animal's life. They must be able to gnaw on hard things- like a deer antler or a bone, to wear them down. The orange front is harder than the white back, creating uneven wear, leading to a very sharp edge, which is needed to crack hard nuts and things like that.
Looks like this poor creature was unable to gnaw for quite a while, as both of those incisors have grown so long that they have curled back into the mouth. It would have been unable to eat, so I believe this unfortunate rodent starved to death, or was so weakened that it was eaten.

Izzy Noble
Spotted by
Izzy Noble

Norfolk, Virginia, USA

Spotted on Jun 6, 2015
Submitted on Jun 8, 2015

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