Cloud rat
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (November 2016) |
| Cloud rats | |
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| Phloeomys pallidus | |
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| Subfamily: | Murinae
in part |
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The cloud rats or cloudrunners are a group of arboreal and folivorous[1] nocturnal rodents native to the forests of the Philippines. There are six known species of true cloud rat, and two dwarf cloud rat species.
Cloud rats are slow-moving herbivores and are thought to be preyed upon by large birds such as the Philippine eagle[citation needed]. The rats are quite large, and they have been hunted by people in the Philippines for their meat, driving the rodents to near extinction[citation needed].
These animals have not been studied extensively. The Filipino Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau has begun breeding Northern Luzon slender-tailed cloud rats in captivity. Some species of cloud rats are kept in the mini-zoo of the College of Agriculture and Forestry of the West Visayas State University in their Lambunao campus in the province of Iloilo.[citation needed]
Several European and North American zoos also keep and breed cloud rats in captivity; including the London Zoo, Prague Zoo, Central Park Zoo and the Bronx Zoo.[2]
Species
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- Giant cloud rats – genus Phloeomys
- Phloeomys pallidus (northern Luzon slender-tailed cloud rat)
- Phloeomys cumingi (southern Luzon slender-tailed cloud rat)
- Bushy-tailed cloud rats – genus Crateromys
- Crateromys schadenbergi (giant bushy-tailed cloud rat)
- Crateromys paulus (Ilin Island cloud rat) - collected in 1981 through a dead specimen
- Crateromys australis (Dinagat Island cloud rat) - rediscovered in 2012
- Crateromys heaneyi (Panay bushy-tailed cloud rat)
- Dwarf cloud rats – genus Carpomys
- Carpomys melanurus (dwarf cloud rat, short-footed Luzon tree rat)
- Carpomys phaeurus (white-bellied Luzon tree rat)
References
- ^ al.], Alexandra van der Geer ... [et (2010). Evolution of island mammals : adaptation and extinction of placental mammals on islands. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell. p. 226. ISBN 1-4051-9009-4.
- ^ "Cloud rat arrives at London Zoo". BBC News. 2004-11-11. Retrieved 2008-04-28.
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