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Great cane rat - THRYONOMYS SWINDERIANUS
Class: Animals with Milk Glands (Mammalia)
The Name "Rat": "Rat" comes from the Old English word
"raet," for the animal. Not a true rat, this animal just looks like a rat.
Location: Africa south of the Sahara.
Habitat: Terrestrial. Damp or humid areas near lakes and marshes, but also in arid regions.
Description: This large rodent has a stocky powerful body and short legs. Typically, this rat's tail is covered with short sparse hairs, which are almost spiny. The coat is brown with a variety of shading ranging from beige and gray to off-white in the lower parts of the body. Length of head and body up to two feet, with ten more inches for a tail. It weight just shy of twenty pounds.
Behavior: This rat generally leads a solitary existence or lives in pairs, but only rarely in larger groups. It is nocturnal, and spends the day in its burrows (which are sometimes the abandoned burrows of aardvarks). It can swim well. It is a vegetarian and has a liking for roots, fruit, the bark of trees, and tender shrubs. It can easily cause considerable damage to crops.
Reproduction: The litter is dropped among vegetation or in the burrow after a gestation of 155 days. The two to four young are born with fur, and can quickly follow their mother. The female has six nipples. They are weaned after a few weeks, and are sexually mature in about a year. There are two litters a year.
Go to the Rodents Page to learn more about all the gnawing animals.
Or go to the Rat Index to study other
rats.
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