Aussie Rodent Becomes The First Mammal To Have Become 'Extinct' Due To Climate Change
The rat whose only habitat was a small island in far northern Australia has not been spotted in a decade. Researchers from Queensland said that the key factor in the disappearance of the rat is repeated ocean inundation of the cay which has created the loss of this species.
On February 19, Australia officially declared that the Great Barrier Reef rodent had become the first mammal to have been killed off by climate change. The rat whose only habitat was a small island in far northern Australia has not been spotted in a decade.
Researchers from Queensland said that the key factor in the disappearance of the rat is repeated ocean inundation of the cay which has created the loss of this species.
Australia's environment ministry on Tuesday said it had officially transferred the animal to the 'extinct' list.
New recovery plans will give even greater protection to two Australian threatened species, the Central Rock Rat and the Brush-Tailed Rabbit-rat. The Spectacled Flying-fox has also been moved from the Vulnerable to the Endangered category.@TSCommissioner https://t.co/LMVFhHgQ5T pic.twitter.com/A4ozCBK3q4
¡ª Melissa Price MP (@Melissa4Durack) February 18, 2019
The available data on sea-level rise and weather in the region "point to human-induced climate change being the root cause of the loss of the Bramble Cay melomys", a study released in 2016 said.
The Melomys rubicola, considered the Great Barrier Reef¡¯s only endemic mammal species, was first discovered on the cay in 1845 by Europeans who shot the ¡°large rats¡± for sport.
