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Malagasy giant jumping rat
The rodent you see here is very rare, it only exists in this one Kirindi forest area of Madagascar and nowhere else. Even here it is under threat by habitat loss, parasites and cats and dogs killing them. As you can see, it very much looks like a rabbit or a small kangaroo, yet a rat it still is, a very large one at it.
How it came to be: our guide asked us if he could wake us up if he would find one. And so he did. I assume the animal is being fed and lured on a daily basis. Still it is very shy. As a strategy to get closer, we dimmed our light, took a few steps in the dark, and turned the light back on. We repeated this until we were close enough for this shot, which is still a crop.
Our guide asked
The Malagasy giant rat, also known as the votsota or votsovotsa, is a nesomyid rodent found only in the Menabe region of Madagascar. It is an endangered species due to habitat loss, slow reproduction, and limited range Pairs are monogamous and females bear only one or two young per year. It is the only extant species in the genus "Hypogeomys"; another species, "Hypogeomys australis", is known from subfossil remains a few thousand years old.
