Ricefield rat

The ricefield rat, Rattus argentiventer, is a medium-sized rodent found throughout Southeast Asia, where it is best known as a major pest of rice fields. It has a grizzled yellow-brown and black coat, a gray belly with whiter flanks, a uniformly medium brown tail and chisel-like incisors. Adults measure roughly 30 to 40 centimeters in total length, including a tail of 14 to 20 centimeters, and weigh about 97 to 219 grams. The species lives in large groups led by a dominant male and a high-ranking female, and it eats termites, insects, grasshoppers, snails, seeds, nuts, rice, vegetables and fruit. It feeds at night and is most active at dusk and dawn, resting among vegetation or maturing crops by day. After a gestation of about three weeks a female bears a litter of five to ten young. Its range covers the Indochina region, Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and New Guinea.