By Rich Bowden
In an amazing stroke of good fortune, a BBC expedition team has discovered a new species of giant rat while filming in a volcano in the jungle of Papua New Guinea.
The team, from the BBC’s Natural History Unit were shooting for a documentary called the ” Lost Land of the Volcano” when the discovery was made. Though the giant rat was the most prized find, the team also discovered 16 new frog species, one new bat species and three new fish.
The rat, which is believed to belong to the Mallomys genus, is endemic to the Mount Bosavi crater in Papua New Guinea’s Southern Highlands province according to initial reports and is described as one of the world’s largest species of rat.
Mt Bosavi. Credit: panvorax/flickr
“This is one of the world’s largest rats. It is a true rat, the same kind you find in the city sewers,” says Dr Kristofer Helgen, a mammalogist based at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History who accompanied the BBC expedition team.
No fear
The rat is estimated to be 32 inches (81 centimetres) from nose to tail and weighs 3.3 pounds (1500 grams). It was first captured by BBC wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan on an infrared camera and it appears to have no fear of humans.
Three more of the team were later able to trap a live specimen.
“I had a cat and it was about the same size as this rat,” says Buchanan, quoted by the BBC.
The species has been provisionally called the Bosavi woolly rat, while its scientific name is decided, reported the BBC.
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