Fishes - Home

The Family Muridae, Rats and Mice is of considerable importance to
human economics from the damage caused to agriculture and stored
products and the danger to health through transmission of diseases. Seven
genera occur in Maharashtra.
The Indian long-tailed Tree Mouse, Vendeleuria oleracea, is a
completely arboreal species having on the first and fifth toe of all four feet
nails instead of claws, and the toes being partially opposable. Widely
distributed in India, this chestnut coloured, active mouse feeds on fruits,
buds, and tender shoots. Occasionally uses the nests of other animals for
breed up.
The Soft-furred Field Rat Millardia meltada is peculiar to India and
the pale brownish grey, dense soft fur and large rounded ears distinguish
this rat. Lives mainly near cultivation, occasionally in heavy scrub or
among rocks. In the Deccan they favour the black cotton soil and are a
pest to food crops and cotton. Periodically show enormous increase in
numbers when their effect on crops can be disastrous.
The White-tailed Wood-Rat or Blanford’s Rat Rattus blanfordi has a
quarter of its tail white. Inhabits deciduous and evergreen forests, scrub
jungle and bare hillsides, in peninsular India.
The Common House Rat, Rattus rattus a commensal of man, now
found all over the world is believed to have had its original home in India
or its neighborhood. Numerous races have been described on the basis of
colour. Broadly, two groups are noticeable, those which live wild being
rufescent above and white below, believed to be the original colour of the
species and those with a dull coat and dingy under parts, the colour of rats
which live in human dwellings. House Rats are one of the main sources of
destruction to stored grains and other food and the main vectors for
plague, rat bite fever and other diseases. The brown Rat Rutins norvegicus
is limited largely to seaports and can be distinguished from the Black Rat
by its shorter tail, shorter than the head and body.
FAUNA 614