Rat Terrier
Rat Terrier
Canis familiaris
Mammalia
COMMON

Stats

Lifespan
10-13 yrs
Size
Medium
Diet
Omnivore
Activity
Cathemeral
Social
Pack
Biome
Human settlements
Range
Worldwide
Movement
Running
Breeding
Live Birth
Defense
Speed
Status
Common

About

A small, athletic terrier bred in the United States to hunt rats and other vermin on farms, prized for its speed and keen prey drive. Despite its compact size, it can be a surprisingly capable ratter, with some individuals credited in old farm records with dispatching hundreds of rodents in a single session.

Life cycle

  1. 1.
    newborn pup
    A blind newborn pup nurses and sleeps, completely dependent on its mother.
  2. 2.
    juvenile
    A weaned pup wrestles with littermates, learns its place in the pack, and starts eating meat.
  3. 3.
    adolescent
    An adolescent canid reaches near-adult size with long legs and a thinner coat, learning to hunt cooperatively.
  4. 4.
    adult
    Fully grown and hunting alongside the pack.

Learn more

Taxonomy

Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Mammalia
Order
Carnivora
Family
Canidae
Genus
Canis
Species
Canis familiaris