Critically Endangered
Malagasy giant rat
Hypogeomys antimena
The Malagasy giant rat, also known as the votsotsa or votsovotsa, is a nesomyid rodent found only in the Menabe region of Madagascar.
Appearance
Malagasy giant rats have an appearance somewhat similar to rabbits, though maintaining many rat-like features especially in the face.
Males and females both grow to roughly rabbit-size, around 1.2 kg (2.6 lb) and 33 cm (13 in), though with an additional 20–25 cm (8–10 in) of dark tail.
Range and habitat
The Malagasy giant rat, also known as the votsotsa or votsovotsa, is a nesomyid rodent found only in the Menabe region of Madagascar. It is a critically endangered species due to habitat loss, slow reproduction, and limited range (200 square kilometres north of Morondava, between the rivers Tomitsy and Tsiribihina) Pairs are monogamous and females bear only one or two young per year.
Much of their territory is now the Kirindy Forest Reserve where sustainable forestry is practiced. The government has also introduced policies that help the inhabitants of the island coexist with the animals that live there.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet and breeding
Completely nocturnal, the giant rats live in burrows up to 5 m (16 ft) across with as many as six entrances that, even those in regular use, are kept blocked by dirt and leaves to discourage predation by the Malagasy ground boa. When foraging, the rats move on all fours, searching the forest floor for fallen fruit, nuts, seeds, and leaves.
The male Malagasy giant rat reaches sexual maturity within one year, but will not mate until reaching 1.5 to two years of age. On the death of a mate, females tend to remain in the burrow until a new male is found.
In crisis
It is the only extant species in the genus Hypogeomys. Another species, Hypogeomys australis, is known from subfossil remains a few thousand years old. The Malagasy giant rat is listed as critically endangered. Limited range, habitat destruction, increased predation by non-native feral dogs and cats, and disease have all led to the decline.
Hantavirus is another rodent disease ravaging the population, that causes kidney failure.
Malagasy giant rat is Critically 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 Malagasy giant rat, Wikidata item Q912350. 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.
