The Natal multimammate mouse (''Mastomys natalensis'') is a species of rodent in the family

Muridae The Muridae, or murids, are the largest family of rodents and of mammals, containing approximately 1,383 species, including many species of mice, rats, and gerbils found naturally throughout Eurasia, Africa, and Australia. The name Muridae comes ...

. It is also known as the Natal multimammate rat, the common

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

n rat, or the African soft-furred mouse. The Natal multimammate rat is the natural host of the

Lassa fever virus ''Lassa mammarenavirus'' (LASV) is an arenavirus that causes Lassa hemorrhagic fever, a type of viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF), in humans and other primates. ''Lassa mammarenavirus'' is an emerging virus and a select agent, requiring Biosafety ...

Range

It is found in

Africa south of the Sahara Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...

. Six different genetic groups can be distinguished in different regions: one in western Africa, one in central Africa, one in southern Africa and three in eastern Africa. Mastomys natalensis mammary

Habitat

Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, dry

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

, moist savanna, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland,

subtropical or tropical moist shrubland The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical and climate zones to the north and south of the tropics. Geographically part of the temperate zones of both hemispheres, they cover the middle latitudes from to approximately 35° north an ...

arable land Arable land (from the la, arabilis, "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.'' Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Alternatively, for th ...

, pastureland, rural gardens, urban areas, irrigated land, and seasonally flooded agricultural land. These rats associate closely with humans, and are commonly found in and around African villages.

Interactions with humans

The species has been used as a

laboratory animal Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and ''in vivo'' testing, is the use of non-human animals in experiments that seek to control the variables that affect the behavior or biological system under study. This ...

since 1939. It has great value for researchers who focused on stomach cancer and spontaneous tumors. It is also the most important reservoir of

.Clive Roots; ''Domestication'' - page: 115

References

External links

* Granjon, L., Lavrenchenko, L., Corti, M., Coetzee, N. & Rahman, E.A. 2004.
Mastomys natalensis

2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Downloaded on 9 July 2007. * *Tofts, Russell

Retrieved July 14, 2009. {{Taxonbar, from=Q1761383 Mastomys Rodents of Africa Stored-product pests Mammals described in 1834 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Rodents as pets