The murine rodents Rattus rattus, exulans and norvegicus as avian predators

Invasive rats and seabirds after 2,000 years of an unwanted coexistence on Mediterranean islands

“…In many cases, unfortunately, reports of rat impact on seabirds were circumstantial and equivocal, and sometimes too subjective to allow for clear inferences on the real magnitude of rat impact. Moreover, as predation is a cryptic phenomenon, it is often difficult to make direct observations of predation by rats in the field, especially for burrow-nesting birds (Towns et al 2006) and to distinguish predation events from the consumption of neglected eggs or carrion provided by natural death (Norman 1975;Towns et al 2006;Quillfeldt et al 2008). At present, there is an urgent need to collect more data on the breeding biology of the four Mediterranean burrowing seabirds throughout the Mediterranean basin, to perform long-term studies, and rigorously monitor breeding success of seabirds before and after conservation measures and to routinely quantify rat impact on their productivity with standardized methods.…”

Studies of social learning in norway rats: A brief review

“…Members of some colonies of wild rats have been reliably reported to pursue and capture fingerling trout (Cottarn, 1948); members of other colonies to stalk and kill sparrows and ducks (Steiniger, 1950); and members of yet other colonies to raid birds' nests for eggs and young (Austin, 1948;Norman. 1975).…”

Distribution of rat species (Rattus spp.) on the atolls of the Marshall Islands: past and present dispersal

“…Contrary to black I-ats (Rattu.~ r-attus), the Polynesian rat was not observed marking its territories (Tomich, 1970). It has a predominantly herbivorous diet (Bettesworth, 1972;Fall et al, 1971) but has also been observed predating on insects (Harrison, 1954;Fall et cd, 1971), snails (Harrison, 1961), land crabs (Moseby et ul., 1973), lizards (Crook, 1973;Whitaker, l973), turtle hatchlings (Balazas, 1983;Hoeck, 1984, p. 242), and bird eggs (Atkinson, 1978;Bourne, 198 1;Norman, 1975).…”