For the first time in history, a team of Australian zoologists from the University of Melbourne managed to photograph one of the rarest rodents in the world, the Wanguna giant mouse living in the forest of the Solomon Islands. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Ecology and Evolution (E&E).
Wangunu mice remained unstudied for a long time. These were known only from the stories of local residents who told of giant rats climbing trees and splitting coconuts with their teeth.
In 2017, a group of American scientists managed to collect skin samples and conduct a DNA analysis that showed that their owners belonged to a previously unknown mouse species, Uromys vika. Experts suggested that these animals reached an average weight of one kilogram and a length of 45 centimeters, that is, about three to four times larger than ordinary brown or black mice. But researchers never found the rodents themselves.
Their Australian counterparts were luckier. The expedition team captured images of 95 mice thanks to a network of camera traps. Analysis showed that the photographs depicted four people.
The researchers hope their discovery will help protect the unique species, as Wangunu shrews could become extinct in the next few years as logging destroys their only habitat.
Previous scientists First He photographed the rare Attenborough echidna, which no one had seen for over 60 years.