| Tenerife Giant Rat | |
|---|---|
| Canariomys bravoi | |
| Conservation status | |
|
Fossil
|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Muridae |
| Subfamily: | Murinae |
| Genus: | †Canariomys |
| Species: | †C. bravoi |
| Binomial name | |
| Canariomys bravoi Crusafont Pairó & Petter, 1964 |
|
The Tenerife Giant Rat (Canariomys bravoi) is an extinct species of rat endemic to the island of Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands, Spain. Many remains have been found during archeological digs. Most remains are from the Pleistocene. With the help of radiocarbon dating, some of the finds have been dated back to the late Pleistocene.[1]
Fossilized remains of this animal have been found practically in every part of the island, but especially in deposits in caves or volcanic pipes of the island, where it often appears together with remains of other species such as the giant lizards (Gallotia goliath). In particular, its bony remains have been discovered in large amounts in the deposit of Buenavista del Norte (in the northwest of Tenerife). Their fossils date back to the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs, which indicates that it lived before the arrival of humans to the island.
The giant rat, as with the other primitive species of the islands, went extinct due to the actions of the initial human colonists of the island (the Guanches) and also because of the introduction of the cat.
Another giant rat of the Canary Islands was Canariomys tamarani.
This species was a big rat of about 1 kg.[2] It had a cranium that reached up to seven centimeters in length. Including the tail, the rat was over 114 centimeters, making it the largest of its family (at least in the Canaries), being about the size of a rabbit.