This rat is introduced, not native, and NatureServe flags it as exotic across Georgia. Its Georgia reports cluster along the coast, at Cumberland Island, Sapelo Island, and around the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge, tracking the ports and shipping traffic that carried the species out of Asia and into Georgia’s harbors centuries ago.
It’s a burrower, not a climber, digging tunnels under docks, seawalls, and building foundations rather than nesting in attics or trees, which is the trait that separates it from its slimmer relative the black rat. Along Georgia’s barrier islands and port towns, that means the animal lives close to the waterline, in the same drainage ditches, jetties, and dock pilings that support the shipping industry that brought it here.
Records run year-round with a spring and summer bump, which likely tracks breeding activity and warmer-weather foraging rather than any true seasonal absence.
Full species profile
