The greater dwarf cloud rat was thought to live in the canopies of tall trees in the Philippines, but the last sighting of one was 112 years ago. Now it has been found again.

One of the rodents was found in Mt. Pulag National Park in the Philippines.

The fist-sized mammal has dense, soft, reddish-brown fur, a black mask around large dark eyes, small rounded ears, a broad and blunt snout, and a long tail covered with dark hair.

“This beautiful little animal was seen by biologists only once previously — by a British researcher in 1896 who was given several specimens by local people, so he knew almost nothing about the ecology of the species,“ said Lawrence Heaney, curator of mammals at the Field Museum and leader of a team that rediscovered the rat. “Since then, the species has been a mystery, in part because there is virtually no forest left on Mt. Data, where it was first found.“

The dwarf cloud rat (Carpomys melanurus) is a smaller relative of giant clouds rats, spectacular animals found only on Luzon Island in the Philippines, but widespread and comparatively well known.

More here.

It’s cute!

Fuzzy!

Oh, that’s adorable!

It reminds me of Uncle Fester

Its pretty mysterious even wikipedia has little info.But its cool they will probably put it in avilon zoo everyone else will have to go to london zoo.Man for 123 yrs.

silver caliber magnum - 06 May 2008 06:30 AM

Its pretty mysterious even wikipedia has little info.But its cool they will probably put it in avilon zoo everyone else will have to go to london zoo.Man for 123 yrs.

No, I don’t think they will. They’ve JUST discovered this species for the first time in the wild and have probably only seen one or two. They won’t just take it and put it in a zoo when they have no idea how it lives or its ecology. How would they be able to feed and keep it when they know nothing about it?

Renquist - 07 May 2008 04:08 AM

silver caliber magnum - 06 May 2008 06:30 AM

Its pretty mysterious even wikipedia has little info.But its cool they will probably put it in avilon zoo everyone else will have to go to london zoo.Man for 123 yrs.

No, I don’t think they will. They’ve JUST discovered this species for the first time in the wild and have probably only seen one or two. They won’t just take it and put it in a zoo when they have no idea how it lives or its ecology. How would they be able to feed and keep it when they know nothing about it?

“Hmm.. well, Bob.. just as a guess, I’d say that it whacking its head against the bars until it loses consciousness is likely a mating display?“

Case and point: red pandas.

London Zoo acquired a red panda back in the Victorian days when they were newly discovered; basically as soon as they saw one, they shot it to prove it exists. Then when they proved it exists, they’d catch one and put it in the zoo. However, due to its resemblance to a fox, they assumed (incorrectly) that it was carnivorous. And it didn’t eat meat and began to waste away.

It wasn’t until a keeper put it on a leash and took it for a walk to get it some fresh air to see it dive head-first into a flowerbed and eat the flowers they realised what was wrong.