Rarely a day goes by here when we do not get a email or news report of one species or another in decline. It is part of the business and communication of conservation. At the same time there is a report every few months of a new insect or plant or even an amphibian that has been discovered in some of the few unexplored regions of the world. Even more exciting is when a large animal such as the Saola, a antelope from Laos and Vietnam, was discovered some 20 years ago.

Once in a while, we simply lose things. People lose things all the time; keys, their phones, sunglasses, a stroller – thankfully without the baby it was brought in to wheel around, one sock – we all lose one sock. I knew a red panda that lost his sock once but that is a story for another day.

Unfortunately we lose species – back in 2010 the Yangtze River Dolphin was pronounced to be extinct. That is a pretty big mammal to go extinct under our watch. In 1975, a specimen of large rodent was discovered on a small island in the Philippines. Known as the Dinagat Island Cloud Rat (Crateromys australis to us rodent nerds), this species was never seem again and thus declared extinct. That was until this year when the Dinagat Island Cloud rat was seen and videotaped by two researchers.

Drawing of Dinagat bushy-tailed cloud rat by William Oliver of the Philippines Biodiversity Conservation Foundation

It may not sound like much, who needs another rodent in the world right? But this is an amazing find and amazing little mammal. I say little mammal but this is one of the largest and most beautiful of rodent species, endemic to only this one tiny island in the Philippines. Yes I wrote beautiful and rodent in the same sentence, get over it. This island is also home to a few other little known species which most of you are going to think are a bit bizarre but here goes: How about the Dinagat hairy-tailed rat! Sounds exquisite but more exciting is the Dinagat moonrat which is not really a rat but an insectivore – try that for a Jeopardy question, Alex Trebeck!

There are a number of species of Cloud Rats – that’s right, the more the merrier – in the Philippines including the Giant bushy-tailed cloud rat, the Ilin Island cloud rat., northern and southern Luzom cloud rats, Panay bushy-tailed cloud rat and the dwarf cloud rat. This group of species are found nowhere else but the Philippines and are under pressure frm both hunting and habitat loss to agricultural development.

So the next time you lose your phone, don’t worry I found it and have recycled it, but the next time you or your red panda lose a sock, just realize it may take you 37 years to find it again, but when you do it will be one of the most amazing discoveries of your life.

More Posts Like This!

• African Forest: Bushmeat What is Bushmeat? In Africa, forest is often referred to as ‘the bush’, thus wildlife and the meat derived from...
• Borneo’s Sumatran Rhinoceros. One step away from extinction Borneo’s Sumatran Rhinoceros is literally one step away from extinction. There are an estimated 200 Sumatran rhinos surviving.  Between 12...
• RARE Friend of the Houston Zoo and National Geographic Photographer Joel Sartore was recently interviewed on CNN to discuss his new...
• A Tail of Two Cats I do not catch many wildlife documentaries or wildlife shows these days. I know the stories, the figures, the facts....
• Borneo Elephant Project blog #1 This week we will begin featuring updates from two very important projects on the island of Borneo focusing on Bornean...