Brown Rat vs Coco yam

Rattus norvegicus compared with Colocasia esculenta

Key Differences

• Brown Rat is Least Concern while Coco yam is Not Evaluated.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Brown Rat	Coco yam
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Chordata (Chordates)	Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class	Mammalia (Mammals)	Insecta (Insects)
Order	Rodentia (Rodents)	Lepidoptera (Butterflies & Moths)
Family	Muridae (Mice & Rats)	Noctuidae
Genus	Rattus	Colocasia
Species	Rattus norvegicus	Colocasia esculenta

Evolutionary Relationship

Brown Rat and Coco yam share a common ancestor at the Kingdom level: Animalia. (Animals)

Conservation Status

Brown Rat

LC — Least Concern

Coco yam

NE — Not Evaluated

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Brown Rat	Coco yam
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Brown Rat

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests, and tropical and subtropical grasslands and savannas, among 10 distinct biome types. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Widely distributed across Africa (11 countries), Asia (15 countries), Europe (41 countries), North America (16 countries), Oceania and the Pacific (10 countries), and South America (10 countries).

Coco yam

Habitat

Inhabits flooded grasslands and savannas within the Afrotropic biogeographic realm.

Range

Widely distributed across Africa (30 countries), Asia (6 countries), Europe (9 countries), North America (8 countries), Oceania and the Pacific (8 countries), and South America (6 countries).

Brown Rat

Brown Rat (Rattus norvegicus) is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List. Widespread and abundant across its range, with stable populations and no immediate conservation concerns.

Coco yam

Coco Yam (Colocasia esculenta), also widely known as Taro, is a pantropical herbaceous plant in the family Araceae, cultivated as a food crop for more than 10,000 years and considered one of humanity's oldest cultivated plants. The species grows from large starchy corms and produces broad, sagittate leaves with distinctive water-repellent surfaces—an adaptation that has earned the plant its association with the lotus effect in traditional culture. Corms, cormels, and young leaves are all edible after thorough cooking, which is essential to neutralise the calcium oxalate crystals that cause intense irritation when raw. Originating in South and Southeast Asia, Colocasia esculenta has been dispersed across tropical Africa, the Pacific Islands, the Caribbean, and the Americas through centuries of agricultural exchange and migration. It thrives in wet or waterlogged soils, being particularly associated with paddy cultivation, irrigation channels, and swampy ground, though drought-tolerant cultivars exist. The species is a dietary staple in Hawaii, where it is the basis of poi; in West Africa, where it is boiled or pounded; and across the Pacific Islands, where it sustains subsistence communities. Given its widespread cultivation and genetic diversity represented across thousands of landraces, IUCN has not formally evaluated its conservation status. The species is not considered at risk.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 35 countries:

🇦🇬 Antigua and Barbuda 🇦🇺 Australia 🇧🇷 Brazil 🇨🇻 Cabo Verde 🇨🇴 Colombia 🇨🇷 Costa Rica 🇭🇷 Croatia 🇩🇲 Dominica 🇪🇨 Ecuador 🇫🇷 France 🇬🇷 Greece 🇬🇾 Guyana 🇮🇹 Italy 🇯🇲 Jamaica 🇲🇹 Malta 🇲🇭 Marshall Islands 🇲🇺 Mauritius 🇫🇲 Micronesia 🇳🇴 Norway 🇵🇼 Palau 🇵🇭 Philippines 🇵🇹 Portugal 🇰🇳 Saint Kitts and Nevis 🇸🇹 Sao Tome and Principe 🇸🇳 Senegal 🇸🇨 Seychelles 🇸🇬 Singapore 🇿🇦 South Africa 🇪🇸 Spain 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka 🇸🇪 Sweden 🇹🇴 Tonga 🇹🇻 Tuvalu 🇺🇸 United States 🇻🇪 Venezuela