Brown Rat vs Rootless Duckweed

Rattus norvegicus compared with Wolffia arrhiza

Key Differences

• Brown Rat is Least Concern while Rootless Duckweed is Endangered.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Brown Rat	Rootless Duckweed
Kingdom	Animalia (Animals)	Plantae (Plants)
Phylum	Chordata (Chordates)	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)
Class	Mammalia (Mammals)	Liliopsida (Monocots)
Order	Rodentia (Rodents)	Alismatales (Alismatales)
Family	Muridae (Mice & Rats)	Araceae
Genus	Rattus	Wolffia
Species	Rattus norvegicus	Wolffia arrhiza

Conservation Status

Brown Rat

LC — Least Concern

Rootless Duckweed

EN — Endangered

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Brown Rat	Rootless Duckweed
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).

Rootless Duckweed

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, temperate broadleaf and mixed forests, and temperate coniferous forests, among 4 distinct biome types spanning the Indomalayan and Oceanian and Palearctic realms. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Widely distributed across Asia (Japan), Europe (10 countries), North America (Canada), and South America (Brazil). Currently classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.

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.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 13 countries:

🇧🇾 Belarus 🇧🇪 Belgium 🇧🇷 Brazil 🇨🇦 Canada 🇭🇺 Hungary 🇮🇹 Italy 🇯🇵 Japan 🇳🇴 Norway 🇵🇹 Portugal 🇷🇺 Russia 🇸🇰 Slovakia 🇪🇸 Spain 🇸🇪 Sweden