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The brown rat, also referred to as common rat, street rat, sewer rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat, brown Norway rat, Norwegian rat, or wharf rat (''Rattus norvegicus'') is one of the best known and most common rats. One of the largest muroids, it is a brown or grey rodent with a body up to long, and a similar tail length; the male weighs on average and the female . Thought to have originated in northern China, this rodent has now spread to all continents except Antarctica, and is the dominant rat in Europe and much of North America—making it by at least this particular definition the most successful mammal on the planet after humans. With rare exceptions, the brown rat lives wherever humans live, particularly in urban areas. Selective breeding of ''Rattus norvegicus'' has produced the laboratory rat, a model organism in biological research, as well as pet rats. == Naming and etymology == Originally called the "Hanover rat" by people wishing to link problems in 18th century England with the House of Hanover,〔Donaldson, Henry Herbert. (1915) The Rat. pp. 13.〕 it is not known for certain why the brown rat is named ''Rattus norvegicus'' (Norwegian rat), as it did not originate from Norway. However, the English naturalist John Berkenhout, author of the 1769 book ''Outlines of the Natural History of Great Britain'', is most likely responsible for popularizing the misnomer. Berkenhout gave the brown rat the binomial name ''Rattus norvegicus'', believing it had migrated to England from Norwegian ships in 1728, although no brown rat had entered Norway at that time. By the early to middle part of the 19th century, British academics were aware that the brown rat was not native to Norway, hypothesizing (incorrectly) that it may have come from Ireland, Gibraltar or across the English Channel with William the Conqueror.〔Friends' Intelligencer. (1858) Volume 14. William W. Moore, publisher. pp. 398.〕 As early as 1850, however, a more correct understanding of the rat's origins was beginning to develop.〔Chambers, William and Robert Chambers. (1850) ''Chambers's Edinburgh Journal.'' pp. 132.〕 The British novelist Charles Dickens acknowledged the misnomer in his weekly journal, ''All the Year Round,'' writing:
Academics began to understand the origins and corrected etymology of the brown rat towards the end of the 19th century, as seen in the 1895 text ''Natural History'' by American scholar Alfred Henry Miles:
Though the assumptions surrounding this species' origins were not yet entirely accurate, by the 20th century, it was established among naturalists that the brown rat did not originate in Norway, rather the species came from central Asia and (likely) China.〔Cornish, Charles John. (1908) ''The Standard Library of Natural History.'' The University Society, Inc. Volume 1, Chapter 9. pp. 159〕 Despite this, this species' common name of "Norway rat" is still in use today. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「brown rat」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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