Alpine woolly rat

Alpine woolly rat
Conservation status
Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Muridae
Genus:	Mallomys
Species:	M. gunung
Binomial name
Mallomys gunung Flannery, Aplin, Groves & Adams, 1989

The alpine woolly rat (Mallomys gunung) is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found only in West Papua, Indonesia. It is found only at high elevations, has an extent of occurrence less than 5,000 km², and is known from only two localities (although may be present at more). The combination of hunting, predation, and slow breeding means that the population size is probably declining (has certainly declined substantially according to the Holocene fossil records). This species is very likely to be increasingly affected by global warming, which increases fire frequency and is causing the extent of habitat to decline. When specimens were brought to a museum the female rats were pregnant with only one baby, so it is assumed that the rat gives birth to only one offspring at a time.

Diet

Because very little is known about the Alpine woolly rat, its diet is assumed to be similar to that of a typical wild rats, barring climate variations.

The Alpine woolly rat mainly eats plants, seeds and various small animals.

References

• Musser, G. G.; Carleton, M. D. (2005). "Superfamily Muroidea". In Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 1356. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.