Rakali

Rakali
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Muridae
Genus:	Hydromys
Species:	H. chrysogaster
Binomial name
Hydromys chrysogaster Geoffroy, 1804
Distribution of the water rat

Hydromys chrysogaster, commonly known as rakali, rabe or water-rat, is an Australian native rodent. It is the only member of the genus Hydromys which is not found in Indonesia or Papua New Guinea. The species lives in burrows on the banks of rivers, lakes and estuaries and feeds on aquatic insects, fish, crustaceans, mussels, snails, frogs, birds' eggs and water birds. Rakali have a body 231–370 millimetres (9.1–14.6 in) in length, weigh 340–1,275 grams (0.750–2.811 lb), and have a thick tail measuring around 242–345 millimetres (9.5–13.6 in). They have webbed hind legs, waterproof fur, a flattened head, a long blunt nose, many whiskers and small ears and eyes. They are black to brown in colour with an orange to white belly, and dark tail with a white tip.

Common names

Until the 1980s, this species was commonly known as "water-rat", but during the 1990s there was a push for such descriptive English common names to be replaced with indigenous names. In 1995 the Australian Nature Conservation Agency released a document in which the following indigenous names were recorded for H. chrysogaster. They recommended that "rakali" be adopted as the common name,^[2] and the Australian Department of Environment and Heritage has taken up this suggestion. Both common names are now widespread.

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  Hydromys chrysogaster

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  H. chrysogaster at the St Kilda Breakwater

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  H. chrysogaster at the St Kilda Breakwater (rear view showing white-tipped tail)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hydromys chrysogaster.

• Australian Museum Factsheet
• Australian Platypus Conservancy
• CSIRO Water for a Healthy Country
• Video showing a Rakali hunting rainbowfish in a coastal creek on YouTube