Endangered
Big-headed mole rat
Tachyoryctes macrocephalus
Big-headed mole rat is a rodent in the family Spalacidae (order Rodentia) — Tachyoryctes macrocephalus, recorded as Endangered.
Appearance
Big-headed mole rat typically have small eyes and thick russet fur, as well as especially prominent incisors. The hair is usually gray at its base, and the head is significantly larger than the rest of the body. The giant root-rat has thick fur and large teeth, and creates large networks of tunnels whilst foraging for food before making holes to the surface to feed on nearby vegetation.
Body weight can range between 160 grams to 930 grams, and the length of their body ranges from 160 millimeters to 313 millimeters.
Range and habitat
The species is endemic to Ethiopia's Bale Mountains, and its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical high-altitude grassland, where the population can reach densities of up to 2,600 individuals per square kilometre. There are many species that prey on Big-headed mole rat, especially the Ethiopian wolf, and it is threatened by habitat loss.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet and breeding
Unlike other mole rats, that mostly forage underground, the giant root-rat primarily forages above ground, obtaining food by digging upwards and feasting upon patches of herbage beside the tunnel entrance. It forages for about 20 minutes, until it has exhausted the supply of herbs about its tunnel, after that it blocks the tunnel it has built from the inside.
It mostly eats grasses and herbs, and some individuals feed mostly on roots. Mainly solitary, males and females live in separate burrow systems. Giant root-rats breed year-round and gestation lasts for 37 to 49 days.
In crisis
The IUCN Red List has labelled the giant root-rat as an endangered species. The deteriorating habitat and limited space that the rodent lives in have resulted in a significant decrease in the population, leading to its endangered status.
Big-headed mole rat is Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Big-headed mole rat, Wikidata item Q784176. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
