The brown rat (Rattus norvegicus), also known as the common rat, street rat, sewer rat, wharf rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat and Norwegian rat, is a widespread species of common rat. One of the largest muroids, it is a brown or grey rodent with a body length of up to 28 cm (11 in) long, and a tail slightly shorter than that. It weighs between 140 ...

More on invasiveness: Brown rat mainly lives near human settlements. Wild populations are also found in natural habitats, especially along water edges. Natural spread is terrestrial, following paths and roads, rivers, lake banks and the seashore. More on impacts: Brown rat are omnivorous and opportunistic.

Oct 24, 2022 · A new project from Belgian non-profit APOPO is training rodents to search the rubble of disaster zones for survivors, and kitting them out with tiny, high-tech backpacks to help first responders...

Apr 15, 2025 · Ronin is an African giant pouched rat (Cricetomys ansorgei) that works with APOPO, a Belgian nonprofit using rats and dogs to help solve some of the world’s biggest problems.In addition to ...

Sep 15, 2023 · The Brussels Sewer Museum will host a special exhibition starting from Friday 15 September, for its first themed year on one of the most reviled species on the planet: rats.

Sep 29, 2023 · A new exhibition at a museum in Belgium is hoping to rehabilitate one of the most widely loathed pests in the world - rats.

This list of mammals of Belgium shows the IUCN Red List status of mammal species occurring in Belgium. One is endangered, eight are vulnerable, and three are near threatened.

Oct 25, 2022 · A Belgian non-profit company called APOPO has proved that rats might be helpful in search and rescue missions. The company is training rats and equipping them with tiny high-tech backpacks to help them to scramble through the rubble of collapsed buildings for survivors.

Jan 7, 2024 · Pest control services across Belgium are receiving a record number of requests to eliminate rat infestations in people's homes. "In ten years, calls have easily multiplied by five or six," Emmanuel Lecocq of Eradic pest control services told Sud Info.

To most people, rats are considered vermin. But to Belgian engineer Bart Weetjens, who spent much of his boyhood raising rodents, rats presented the most logical solution to the key challenges of humanitarian de-mining.