Norway Rats Natural Habitat

One would have probably asked the question: "What is the natural habitat of a Norway rat?" Actually, rats were found predominantly in the areas of Northern China. They were once wild rodents in those areas and they would not have systematic ways in find food resources or coming up with their own dwelling. It is believed that it is where they originated, however, there's less information known about their ecology and behaviors in there.

Eventually, sometime during the progress of trade and commerce between countries across the globe, rats have found their way and moved in their lots with human beings. Thus, evidences of rats cohabiting the early human settlements during the early times. Settlements, like human abodes, farms, barns, buildings to even an entire village. The massive invasions eventually lead to many dire consequences which a lot of humanity has suffered from. The coexistence between two species was far from being realized those days as the ones that mostly benefited in the commensal relationship are the rats as they are unprecedentedly fed by humans by food scraps and leftovers and are given ample dwellings. With the prevalence of garbage around human territories, Norway rats have found more than just one way to sustain their existence within human territories. Humans have housed many rats under their own rooftops, providing them warmth and protection that they need, keeping rats' natural predators away for good, and safeguarding them under human protection. Thus, we now have what we call commensalism; a human-dependent relationship being upheld by rats since time immemorial.

Each and every time that humans travel, rats would travel along with them as stowaways. At some point in time, black rats came along with us in trade routes, riding on caravans and ships during the middle ages. Several centuries later, they have conquered the entire eastern and western Europe and eventually expanded to the extents of the new world as they aboard sailing ships that travel across the globe. That is why Norway rats are now predominantly found in the American soils as well living their dreams of food heaven. Of course, wherever humans go across the world, so are the rat parasites as well.

At present, rats are just basically found in every known human dwelling, as much as they are also found in wild areas like the forests or grasslands. Therefore, rats basically are found everywhere. They are omnipresent with a population explosion the covers the entire world. So far these stowaway stratagems have worked ever so functionally throughout time for rats thus have enabled them to live through millions of years by simply just depending on their human hosts.

We now ask where exactly rats' natural habitat is. The answer would be everywhere. As at present there are no longer native or endemically existing rats in the world. There is no place on earth where Norway rats exclusively exist as they are practically normally found in every human dwelling. As long as there is food in the area, rats are most likely to be found as well. The natural habitat of rats is basically wherever humans are. In much more specific terms, the range of their habitats would be inclusive of farms, buildings, homes, garbage dumps, sewers, subway, river banks, squatters' area, all are human niches.

There are certain occasions however, that during milder climate conditions, the parasites would live independently from their human hosts. They are able to flourish with themselves alone with the help of the kinder environment brought about by the better temperament of the climate. They would thrive in grain fields on themselves during these seasons.