Wistar Albino Rat

The Norway rat or laboratory rat Rattus Norvegicus, is a mammal of the order Rodentia. The acute hearing of rats makes them sensitive to ultrasounds and high pitched sounds. The vision of these rats is very poor and they are unable to detect color and are blind to long-wave (red) light. The tail of the rat is the principal organ for heat exchange. Next to the laboratory mouse, the rat is the most commonly used laboratory mammal, accounting for approximately 20% of the total number of mammals used for scientific purposes. The Wistar rat is used as both a toxicology model and general, all purpose outbred model for use in biomedical research.