Editing Brown rat (section)

=== Diet ===
[[Image:RatEatingSunflowerseads.jpg|thumb|right|A brown rat eating sunflower seeds]]
The brown rat is a true omnivore and consumes almost anything, but cereals form a substantial part of its diet. The most-liked foods of brown rats include [[scrambled eggs]], raw carrots, and cooked corn kernels. The least-liked foods are raw beets, peaches and raw celery.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Schein |first=M.W. |author2=Orgain, H. |title=A Preliminary Analysis of Garbage as Food for the Norway Rat |journal=The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene |volume=2 |issue=6 |pages=1117–1130 |pmid=13104820 |date=1953 |doi=10.4269/ajtmh.1953.2.1117}}</ref>
Foraging behavior is often population-specific, and varies by environment and food source.<ref name="Fragaszy, Dorothy Munkenbeck 2003 pp. 165">{{cite book |last1=Fragaszy |first1= D.M. |first2= S. |last2=Perry |year=2003 |title=The Biology of Traditions: Models and Evidence |url=https://archive.org/details/biologytradition00frag |url-access=limited |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=165 |isbn=978-0-521-81597-0 }}</ref> Brown rats living near a hatchery in [[West Virginia]] catch fingerling fish.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cottam |first1=C. |author-link=Clarence Cottam|year=1948 |last2=Stickel |first2=W.H. |last3=Stickel |first3=L.F. |last4=Coleman |first4=R.H. | last5=Mickey |first5=A.B. |last6=Schellbach |first6=L. |last7=Schorger |first7=A.W. |last8=Negus |first8=N.C. |last9=Polderboer |first9=E.B. |title=Aquatic habits of the Norway rat |jstor=1375396 |journal=[[Journal of Mammalogy]] |volume=29 |issue=3 |page=299 |doi=10.1093/jmammal/29.3.299}}</ref> 
Some colonies along the banks of the [[Po River]] in Italy dive for [[mollusks]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gandolfi |first1=G. |last2=Parisi |first2=V. |year=1972 |title=Predazione su Unio Pictorum L. da parte del ratto, ''Rattus norvegicus'' (Berkenhout) |journal=Acta Naturalia |volume=8 |pages=1–27}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Parisi |first1=V. |last2=Gandolfi | first2 = G. |year=1974 |title=Further aspects of the predation by rats on various mollusc species | journal =Bollettino di Zoologia |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=87–106 |doi=10.1080/11250007409430096 |doi-access=free}}</ref> a practice demonstrating social learning among members of this species.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1037/h0077678 |last1=Galef |first1=Jr. |last2=Bennett |first2=G. |year=1980 |title=Diving for Food: Analysis of a Possible Case of Social Learning in Wild Rats (''Rattus norvegicus'') |url=http://www.sociallearning.info/storage/pdf/comp%20psych%20943%20416-425.pdf |journal=[[Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology]] |volume=94 |issue=3 |pages=416–425}}</ref> Rats on the island of [[Norderoog]] in the [[North Sea]] stalk and kill sparrows and ducks.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Steiniger |first1=F. |year=1950 |title=Beitrage zur Sociologie und sonstigen Biologie der Wanderratte | journal=Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=356–79 |doi=10.1111/j.1439-0310.1950.tb01630.x|bibcode=1950Ethol...7..356S }}</ref>

Also preyed upon by brown rats are chicks, mice and small lizards. Examination of a wild brown rat stomachs in Germany revealed 4,000 food items, most of which were plants, although studies have shown that brown rats prefer meat when given the option. In metropolitan areas, they survive mainly on discarded human food and anything else that can be eaten without negative consequences.<ref name=ADW>{{cite web |url=https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Rattus_norvegicus/ |title=Rattus norvegicus (Brown rat) |website=[[Animal Diversity Web]]}}</ref>