Bosavi woolly rat

History

In 2009, a group of cameramen, trackers from the Kasua tribe, and biologists were in Mount Bosavi's extinct volcanic crater, over 1000 m above sea level, to film Lost Land of the Volcano, a wildlife documentary for BBC. The crater had rarely been explored by humans before then. While attempting to search for new species, the crew captured footage of the rodent using infrared camera, and suspected that the species had not been discovered before. They could not confirm the discovery until they witnessed the animal physically, so the trackers traveling with the crew managed to trap a live specimen. The rat was one of over 30 animal species that the researchers found in the crater, but the crater may contain 40 undocumented species.

As of 2025, the Bosavi woolly rat does not have an official scientific name. It is thought to be in the genus Mallomys, within the family Muridae.

The rat is the subject of a 2022 children's picture book by Lara Hawthorne titled "Ratty's Big Adventure".

Description

The Bosavi woolly rat is one of the world's largest rats, with a length of 82 cm including its tail. The rodent weighs around 1.5 kg and has a silver-brown coat of long, thick, coarse fur, which protects it from the low temperatures and moisture that appears during the crater's winter. A captured specimen was docile and showed no fear of humans when it was handled as it had not experienced them before, and simply ignored the crew to eat a leaf instead. Gordon Buchanan, the first member of the crew to discover the rat, said that its teeth suggested it was vegetarian, a claim supported by Dr. Kristofer Helgen, a mammalogist from Washington D.C.'s Smithsonian Institution, who was a member of the crew that found the woolly rat. Buchanan also speculated that it nested in trees or burrowed underground.

The rat is native to Papua New Guinea and currently has only been found inside Mt. Bosavi's crater. Deforestation near the crater could endanger its habitat.

Notes

References

References

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3. Greenwood, Steve. (2009-09-08). "The moment we found a Bosavi woolly rat - an animal totally new to science". [[The Guardian]].
4. Lemonick, Michael D.. (2009-12-08). "The Top 10 Everything of 2009".
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16. Horton, Helena. (2016-04-15). "New giant species of rat discovered". [[The Daily Telegraph.
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23. Lewis, Tim. (2025-02-09). "'It's about escaping from yourself': wildlife presenter Gordon Buchanan". [[The Observer]].
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