NEW SPECIES
VANGUNU GIANT RAT
WHAT IS IT? Only a single specimen of this almost 0.5m-long rodent has been collected to date, and it died soon after capture. Inevitably, very little is known about it, other than it lives in trees and is reported by local people to eat coconuts.
WHERE IS IT? Apparently endemic to Vangunu in the Solomon Islands, there have been rumours of its existence for 20 years on the basis of information from islanders. The single, mortally injured specimen was collected when a tree was felled by loggers. It is thought to be Critically Endangered.