Bulldog rat

Bulldog Rat
Bulldog rat
Conservation status
Extinct (1898)  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Muridae
Subfamily:	Murinae
Genus:	Rattus
Species:	R. nativitatis
Binomial name
Rattus nativitatis (Thomas, 1888)

The bulldog rat (Rattus nativitatis) was a species of rat endemic to Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean. The rats lived on the higher hills and denser forests of the island. They had short tails and their backs were covered in a two centimetre thick layer of fat. They lived in small colonies, in burrows among the roots of trees or under hollow logs in primary forest. They were sluggish and never climbed and may have seemed half-dazed in daylight. The last record dates from 1903. They may have succumbed to a disease brought by black rats that had been inadvertently introduced by sailors.

Skulls of R. nativitatis and R. macleari

See also

• Maclear's rat

Further reading

• Flannery, Tim & Schouten, Peter (2001). A Gap in Nature: Discovering the World's Extinct Animals. Atlantic Monthly Press, New York. ISBN 0-87113-797-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)