The Vangunu giant rat (Uromys vika) has been eluding scientists for decades, but with the help of the Zaira community residing in the Solomon Islands where the rat is native, and is the only place it is known to be found, they have finally obtained the first few photos of the critically-endangered mammal.
Since 2011, researchers have been trying to capture the giant rats on film, but the tree-dwelling rats have always found a way to give them the slip, and no photos were taken of them that time. However, the researchers did find a large fecal pellet which they believe was left by one of the giant rats.
In 2015, an injured Vangunu giant rat had been captured by some loggers felling a tree. They sent it to the Queensland Museum in South Brisbane, the first ever proof that the mammals existed, however, the rat died soon after from its injuries.
Now, the team of researchers led by Tyrone Lavery, a mammalogist from the University of Melbourne, with the help of the indigenous Zaira community, were able to strategically place cameras in trees where the Vangunu giant rat were known to scurry about, and finally, they have been able to take some of the first photos of living Vangunu giant rats.
With these photos, scientists want to urge local authorities to ensure the protection and conservation of the critically-endangered species, especially as their survival is being threatened by continuous logging of the island's forests, the giant rat's only habitat. -via Atlas Obscura
(Image credit: Lavery et al/University of Melbourne)