How to Draw a Water Rat

In this quick tutorial you'll learn how to draw a Water Rat in 6 easy steps - great for kids and novice artists.

The images above represent how your finished drawing is going to look and the steps involved.

Below are the individual steps - you can click on each one for a High Resolution printable PDF version.

At the bottom you can read some interesting facts about the Water Rat.

Make sure you also check out any of the hundreds of drawing tutorials grouped by category.

How to Draw a Water Rat - Step-by-Step Tutorial

Step 1: Draw a turtle shell-like curve

Step 3: Add ears and whiskars

Interesting Facts about the Water Rat

Also known as the rakali or rabe, the water rat is an Australian rodent that was not first documented until the year 1804. They are a very adaptable, colonizing species that lives in the burrows of river banks, estuaries and lakes. They are a rather large rodent that can grow up to twenty-eight inches in length including the length of its tail, and can weigh just under three pounds. Females of this species are generally smaller than the males, though the lengths of their tails will always be about the same. All members of this species have partially webbed hind legs, waterproof fur, a flattened head with a long nose and many whiskers. They are also known for having small ears and eyes and a flat, elongated skull that helps them get into hard-to-reach areas. They are dark brown in color, with white and orange bellies and a dark tail with a white tip.

Did you know?

• Though a rat doesn’t sound like a highly desirable animal, its fur is the sought after prize of many hunters.
• The water rat is also hunted as a nuisance, due to its destruction of fishing nets and irrigation banks.
• From 1957 to 1967, licensed hunting seasons were held to cull the numbers of the invasive water rat.
• They are a semi-aquatic animal.
• Males and females both molt in summer and fall, but only females will molt during the springtime.

The water rat is a mostly solitary species that is prone to becoming very aggressive when in large groups. As is true for most animals, the males are the particularly aggressive ones. It is not uncommon for female water rats to fight each other, either, and any observer of these animals will see that both sexes can be afflicted by wounds caused from fighting. They are a nocturnal species, though they can be sometimes seen swimming and feeding in the early hours of the morning. Because of how cold water temperatures can become during winter, the water rat prefers to prey on land during this time. Because of how often they are in the water, these rats are subjected to frequent infestations of worms called nematodes. They burrow into the stomach walls of the water rat and make them sick.