The predator rats are a group of carnivorous rodents from Dougal Dixon's After Man. They evolved from rats, hence their names. After the Age of Man, the extinction of most carnivorans gave rats a chance to take over their niches. In the distant future, they diversified, having to take the place of many carnivorans - cheetahs, wildcats, wolves, foxes, weasels, bears, and even pinnipeds - and evolved a similar form, although they have retained primitive features, like a long hairless tail. They ha