Dennis Paulson writes:

> >Black Rats (Rattus rattus) and Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus). Both
> >introduced from Europe. The field mark given in most field
> >guides as diagnostic is that the tail on the Black Rat is greater than
> >the length of the body and the tail on the Norway is less than the body
> >length. You will undoubtedly find yourself holding a rat with a tail
> >equal to its body length.
>
> You're absolutely right. We keep getting Rattus in the museum the identity
> of which is puzzling. Most are immature, perhaps not with full-length
> tails.

Or is it not with full-length bodies ? :-)

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A bird in the bush is better than two in the hand.

Serge Le Huitouze Intelligent Software Group
email: serge at cs.sfu.ca School of Computing Science
tel: (604) 291-5423 Simon Fraser University
fax: (604) 291-3045 Burnaby, B.C., V5A 1S6 CANADA