Cape York rat
Rattus leucopus (Gray, 1867)
The cape york rat (Rattus leucopus) is a species in the family Muridae, order Rodentia. Recorded adults weigh 162.4 g to 171.7 g. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
Quick facts about the cape york rat
- Weight
- 162.4 g – 171.7 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Herbivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Gestation
- 22.8 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 3.48src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 3.52 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
Where does the cape york rat live?
Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.
The cape york rat is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Why a country list is not a range map
Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
What is the cape york rat?
The Cape York rat (Rattus leucopus) is a species of rodent in the family Muridae.
It is found in southern New Guinea, in both Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, and in Cape York Peninsula in Australia.
From the Wikipedia article “Cape York rat” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cape_York_rat&oldid=1384639731), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the cape york rat endangered?
The cape york rat is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.
How is the cape york rat classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderRodentia
- familyMuridae
- genusRattus
- SpeciesRattus leucopus (Gray, 1867)
Synonyms Acanthomys leucopus, Hapalotis personata, Mus terra-reginae, Rattus leucopus cooktownensis, Rattus leucopus mcilwraithi
Other names and names in other languages (5)
- Kap-York-RatteGerman
- queenslandinrottaFinnish
- マダラオクマネズミJapanese
- szczur koralowyPolish
- Квинслендская крысаRussian
Relatives of the cape york rat
Other species in the same genus Rattus.
Brown rat
Rattus norvegicus
Black rat
Rattus rattus
Polynesian rat
Rattus exulans
Ricefield rat
Rattus argentiventer
Summit rat
Rattus baluensis
Bush rat
Rattus fuscipes
CompareCape York rat vs Brown ratCape York rat vs Black ratCape York rat vs Polynesian ratCape York rat vs Ricefield rat
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the cape york rat?
An adult cape york rat weighs 162.4 g – 171.7 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Where does the cape york rat live?
Catalogue of Life checklists list the cape york rat for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.
Is the cape york rat endangered?
The cape york rat is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
How long is the cape york rat pregnant?
The recorded gestation period is 22.8 days.
What kind of animal is the cape york rat?
The cape york rat (Rattus leucopus) belongs to the family Muridae in the order Rodentia.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Cape York rat (Rattus leucopus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/cape-york-rat
“Cape York rat (Rattus leucopus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/cape-york-rat.
@misc{cape_york_rat_2026,
title = {Cape York rat (Rattus leucopus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/cape-york-rat},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}