Extinct ‘due to climate change’

THIS rodent is believed to be the first mammal to have been killed off by humaninduced climate change.

The rat- like Bramble Cay melomys – whose only known habitat was a small sandy island off northern Australia, close to Papua New Guinea – has not been spotted in a decade and has now been officially declared extinct.

Australian government researchers said ocean inundation of its island habitat was ‘almost certainly’ a key factor in its fate.