#hydromys

[hasellia]

I've seen one of these guys. We had never heard of a Rakali before that point. We almost killed it, thinking it was an invasive Black rat or Norway rat.

Australians, please educate yourselves and others (like our education and tourism governmental bodies) on the less charismatic wildlife that we share our land with.

Rakali Facts!

They are one of the few native placental mammals to Australia! No introduction by European invaders!

Look at em feet, they're webbed! All the better for swimming!

Many Australians watched in horror as a Rakali raided and stole Fairy Penguin chicks on TV.

In the Biladurang dreaming story, the Platypus is the child of a non-consensual marriage between a Duck and a Rakali. (I know it might be weird to see kids performing this story, but don't be racist or an arsehole).

Cane toads are an introduced and abundant species in Australia with few predators. The Rakali however, have figured out how to harmlessly eat the toads by dissecting them and neatly placing the poison glands away from the meat.

Plotting... Scheming...

Australian Water Rat aka Rakali (Hydromys chrysogaster), family Muridae, Australia

Aquatic, predatory, and nocturnal rat, native to Australia.

photograph by Terry Genesen Becker

[bugoutpest]

Pest Control - Why It's Important to Get Rid of Pests in Your Home

Pests like bed bugs bite during the night, causing sleep disturbances and a sense of fatigue among residents. These insects are elusive and difficult to spot, requiring regular inspections and professional pest control.

Whether you need rodent control, cockroach extermination, flea treatment or a termite treatment service in Brisbane, Oneflare can help you find the best local expert to get the job done quickly and efficiently. To know more about Bug Pest Control, visit the Bug Out Pest Solutions website or  call 0426263320.

Rodents can cause untold damage to a home by chewing and gnawing through electrical wires, clothes and furniture. They also carry more than 35 diseases and spread them through direct contact or through food and water that are contaminated by their urine, faeces and saliva.

The roof rat, Rattus rattus, and the sewer rat, Rattus norvegicus are common pests in Brisbane homes. The bush rat, Hydromys chrysogaster, is another rodent that can cause problems.

The recent mouse plague in the North Burnett has some Brisbane residents worried about the impact on their homes. While experts are confident that the plague won’t reach Brisbane City, it is important to take preventative measures to protect your family. Outdoor rodent control is a key part of this.

Ants are a significant problem for Brisbane home owners. They build their nests around the perimeter of buildings and can contaminate food and erode pavers, causing costly damage. If you’re experiencing an ant invasion, it’s important to hire a professional.

A pest control expert can treat your property and re-establish the ants’ natural boundaries. Low impact approaches include sanitation and cleaning (as well as removing anything that attracts them) and implementing non-toxic prevention. If these measures fail, a professional can dispatch powerful chemicals, such as the highly effective TERMIDOR, to eradicate them at the source. The carpenter ant (scientifically named Camponotus) is a common ant in Australia and invades structures, nesting in damp or rotting wood. Like termites, they are hard to distinguish from their more benign relatives and can cause major structural damage.

Ticks are one of the most dangerous pests in Brisbane homes because they are capable of transmitting deadly diseases to pets and people. They are known to carry a wide range of pathogens, including protozoa and rickettsia. Their bites can lead to tick rash, fever, chills, body aches, nausea and headaches. In extreme cases, they can also cause paralysis and even death.

Tick pest control requires the use of professional methods because they are difficult to kill with household products. They are also known to develop acaricide resistance. This has led to the development of alternative acaricides, such as plant compounds that are effective against ticks.

If your property is prone to tick infestations, then you should opt for a same-day or emergency pest control treatment. This will protect the health of your family and animals.

Spiders can be scary and intimidating to look at but they aren’t harmful to humans. However, they may bite if threatened or provoked. If you have an infestation of spiders in your house, you should call a pest control service immediately.

Regularly spotting spider webs around the house is a sign of an infestation. You might also find spider eggs in dark corners of the house. These eggs will hatch into spiders that will then increase their population quickly.

It is important to get professional pest control services because DIY spray chemicals will only be effective for a short time. Professional insecticides have been developed specifically to target spiders without disturbing the natural habitat of other bugs. This ensures you don’t end up with a worse problem down the road.

Bed bugs can fit in narrow cracks and crevices, and are therefore very easy to transport on suitcases, bags, clothing, campervans, cars or personal items. These wingless insects hide during the day and come out at night to feed.

They glue their translucent eggs to surfaces and are very difficult to get rid of. They have a long incubation period and can survive multiple sprays. It is common to find a bed bug infestation persisting even after effective treatment. To know more about Bug Pest Control, visit the Bug Out Pest Solutions website or  call 0426263320.

Cooperation from occupants during treatments is crucial. Excess clutter needs to be removed as it can afford places for the pests to hide. Ideally, belongings should be bagged or wrapped in plastic to prevent dislodgement during transportation to the curb or dumpster. This also prevents contamination of adjacent areas.

[beepost-generator]

It's some kind of marmot. Yes, they do get that big!

That's so cool. I had never seen a marmot with any senee of scale before, I assumed it was a little guy.

We have hardly any rodents here. A notable exception is the Rakali, Hydromys melanogaster, a water rat. They are very good, and huge by rat standards.

[wonder-rooms]

Rakali, Hydromys chrysogaster (1801) - Ferdinand Baue

[saritazoo]

Ok! I will take that as permission for Rat Lore Dumping!

The Rakali (Hydromys chrysogaster) is a semi-aquatic rat native to Australia and is one of Australia’s few native rodents. They fill the same niche as otters!

The Maned Rat (Lophiomys imhausi), native to East Africa, is the only known poisonous rodent. The hairs in their mane are absorbent, and the rat rubs them against the bark of the Poison Arrow Tree to store the plant’s toxins!

The Summit Rat (Rattus baluensis) only lives on Mt. Tambuyukon and Mt. Kinabalu in Borneo and Malaysia. It has a symbiotic relationship with the pitcher plant Nepenthes rajah. The pitcher plant secrets sweet nector from its lid for the rat (as well as for the Mountain Treeshrew) to lap up. In return, the rat defecates in the plant’s trap, providing it with nitrogen. (Unfortunately, sometimes rats will also drown in the trap, but these cases seem to be already sick animals and not the norm, as the pitcher plant primarily feeds on ants.)

The Golden-backed Tree-rat (Mesembriomys macrurus) is another rat that’s native only to Australia. Most mammalian niches in Australia are filled by marsupials, which makes native Australian rats all the more special. They are nocturnal and arboreal, mainly feeding on fruit. They used to range over all of Northern Australia, but are now only found in a few remote, near-coastal areas, having been threatened by bushfires, feral cats, and cattle destroying their habitats and food sources.

The similarily arboreal Acacia Rat (Thallomys paedulcus) relies on acacia trees in Sub-saharan Africa, living underneath their frayed bark. The thorns of the acacias provide protection from predators.

The Northern Luzon Giant Cloud Rat is not the only Cloud Rat, by the way. This is the Panay Bushy-tailed Cloud Rat (Crateromys schadenbergi) and they are only found in pine forests at the tops of mountains on Luzon (Philippines). Luzon does not have tree squirrels, so the Panay Bushy-tailed Cloud Rat fills that niche!

Now, this one isn’t technically a rat (ie in the family Muridae), but it deserves an honorable mention. The Red-crested Tree-rat (Santamartamys rufodorsalis) is a critically endangered tree-rat native to coastal Columbia. Two dead specimens were collected in 1898 and 1913, possibly by local hunters. The animal was not seen alive until 2011, when it crawled onto this railing at a nature reserve, patiently allowed two volunteers to photograph it, and then disappeared back into the forest, never to be seen again. They truly are the Secret Rats.

whats your favorite species of rat :3

The ones we have not found yet. For they are secret rats.

[damonkowarsky]

'Rakali'. Etching and aquatint from two copper plates. A portrait of Hydromys chrysogaster, one of Australia's native rodents. You can sometimes see them in the rocks at St Kilda Pier. I drew this one at @melbournemuseum way back in 2010. Made at @portlandbaypress in February this year. It was SO good to be back in the studio after a year away.⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ #printmaking #hydromys #waterrat #australianmammal #art #etching #intaglio #aquatint #nativeanimals #rakali #nofilter (at Raleigh Street Studios) https://www.instagram.com/p/COL16Q0BwnP/?igshid=4ace7187w4o4

[s2-design]

The indigenous Hydromys chrysogaster, commonly known as Rakali (Aboriginal name), rabe or water-rat here seen swimming along the Corio Bay waterfront in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. ○ #rakali #s2_design #waterrat #rat #hydromyschrysogaster #geelong #victoria #australia #water #corio #coriobay #indigenous #rodent #rabe #swim #swimming #semiaquatic #nocturnal #hydromys https://www.instagram.com/p/BsMm7PpFf1d/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=nvf8qw4qelk9

[juicydangler]

Hydromys chrysogaster

….did they milk a nutria?

[comixqueen]

March Mammal Madness’ sweet sixteen art! I’m really happy with these! It was a challenge to one-up myself from these for the Elite Trait art...

Featuring: Tiger Quoll, Nine-banded Armadillo, Loggerhead Turtle and Columbus Crab (#TeamCrabberhead), and the Rakali.

[podartists]

Hydromys chrysogaster | John Gould (1804-1881) | The mammals of Australia. v.3 (1863) | Flickr (Biodiversity Heritage Library)

[antiqueanimals]

Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, vol. 11, Mammals II. 1972.

1.) Luzon giant cloud rat (Phloeomys cumingi)

2.) Montane African climbing mouse (Dendromus insignis)

3.) Fat mouse (Steatomys pratensis)

4.) Link rat (Deomys ferrugineus)

5.) Southern African vlei rat (Otomys irroratus)

6.) Mount Data shrew-rat (Rhynchomys soricoides)

7.) Rakali (Hydromys chrysogaster)

[hasellia]

Ayy Used to have one of these guys in my backyard. They came during a rat invasion so my family thought he was just some strange brown rat. We had never heard of these guys before and we came so close to killing him. I wish there was like, a popular children's book about them or something so more people would know not to harm these guys.

Actually, small rodent or rodent like marsupials in general REALLY need more awareness in this country. There are SO many doormice looking mammals here and NOBODY knows about them. There should be a native rodent and marsupial awareness week here or something.

The rakali, Hydromys chrysogaster, also known as the rabe or water-rat, is an Australian native rodent first described in 1804. It is the only member of the genus Hydromys with a range extending beyond Papua New Guinea and Indonesian West Papua. Having adapted to and colonised a unique niche of a semiaquatic and nocturnal lifestyle, this species lives in burrows on the banks of rivers, lakes and estuaries. 

 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 recommended that “rakali” be adopted as the common name, and the Australian Department of Environment and Heritage has taken up this suggestion. Both common names are now widespread.

Keep reading

[sitting-on-me-bum]

Rakali pups are too cute to handle

Rakili / Rabe / Water-rat ( Hydromys chrysogaster)

Image credit: FNQ Exotic Haven

Rakali

[thefionahamer]

I’ve been looking out for Rakali for a while now, ever since my wonderful assistant Matt found a yabby claw out on the creek bank while we were doing  water testing at Lizard Crossing.   I was told that water-rats (or rakali) like to take their food out onto the bank to eat.

Unfortunately, the first one I saw was dead.  So was the second one.

I was walking the dog at Yass Gorge, enjoying the restoration work that’s been done there in the last couple of years.  I noticed a couple of places where people had made paths down to the river’s edge, to swim or perhaps to fish.

On the way back, I saw two big dead furry things lying in the grass.  My mind thought “Rats!” and I jumped away, surprising the dog.  Then I looked more closely at the webbed feet and white tail, and realized that although they were rodents (like rats, rabbits and guinea-pigs) they were also the Australian native rakali.

Rakali (hydromys chrysogaster) eat fish and crustaceans and are more like the European otters than the sewer rats (rattus norvegicus) people often think they are.  In fact they will eat rattus for breakfast.

Using the name “Rakali” has been started as an attempt to break the mental connection with rats.  In Europe, their “water rat” ours is named after is really a vegetarian vole, and the usage is changing to “water vole” there.

Like platypus rakali are very shy, but are much less well known.  These two were probably drowned in an “Opera house” shaped yabby trap, which are notorious for drowning platypus too.  Presumably the person who set it had no idea what they were or why they were in the yabby trap.  It should be illegal to sell the over-sized traps that cause such tragedies.  It is illegal to use them except in farm dams, yet Anglers Warehouse sells them online labelled “Australia’s favourite net!”

Horrible.

I looked at the beautiful new signage at the entry to Yass Gorge.

Nothing about rakali or how avoid trapping them and platypus.  I think it could be time for an information blitz at popular river fishing spots to let people know the truth.  Time to talk to the local council.

RAKALI SIGHTING I've been looking out for Rakali for a while now, ever since my wonderful assistant Matt found a yabby claw out on the creek bank while we were doing  

[synapsidnotebook]

Australia is known for being a land of marsupials, with placentals widely thought of as having only an invasive presence on the island continent. However, this popular impression is far from the truth. In reality, roughly half of the native land mammals in Australia are placentals.

All of these Australian placentals are either bats or rodents. Whether by flying or rafting, these two groups managed to colonize Australia long before humans. Though rarely given as much attention as Australian marsupials, native placentals have evolved strange adaptations of their own on the isolated Australian landmass. This post will focus on just one genus of Australian placentals, the semi-aquatic rodents in the genus Hydromys.

New post, on Australia’s answer to an otter!

[cyanocoraxx]

world rat day!

in a belated celebration of world rat day i decided to compile a post of rats from around the world. some of these rats will not look much like rats - this is because the name "rat" is applied to any large muroid rodent and "mouse" is applied to any smaller muroid rodent, so scientifically these names are not confined to the rattus and mus genera. 

rakali (hydromys chrysogaster)

rakalis are also known as bud-buds, water rats and rabes. these semiquatic, nocturnal, burrowing rodents feed on fish, insects, water birds and frogs. they can be recognised by their partially webbed hind legs, waterproof fur and a white tail tip. they prefer to live alone because they’re territorial, and in high population densities they will often fight to defend their range.

limestone rat (saxatilomys paulinae)

this species has only been observed in the forested, rocky limestone habitats of phou hin poun national biodiversity conservation area. is described as having semispinous dark gray upperparts, dark frosted gray underparts, large, extremely bulbous footpads, and a combination of derived and primitive cranial and dental traits.

crested rat (lophiomys imhausi)

this unusual long-haired rodent lives in the woodlands of tanzania and south sudan. the dorsal surface of its skull is covered with small bony projections which gives it a pebbled look, it chews on poisonous plants to spread poison on its fur, and it is the only murid to have a highly compartmentalized stomach. a six million year old fossil of the crested rat's ancestor was found in spain.

panay cloudrunner (crateromys heaneyi)

panay cloudrunners are large squirrel-like rats found on the island of panay. they weigh around 1kg and can measure over two feet in length. the face is short and chubby and the coat is a greyish-brown. during the day they enjoy sleeping in the hollows of large trees, either alone or with their mate and one or two babies. the family will groom each other to bond and forages for young corns, bananas, guavas and papayas at night.

northern luzon giant cloud rat (phloeomys pallidus)

these large rodents weigh 5.7 lbs and are highly variable in appearance, but are usually white with dark brown or black patches and masking. pure white individuals have been found in the wild and reddish individuals occur in captivity. they prefer forests and scrub, which they forage for vegetation in at night. fortunately these fluffy rats are listed as least concern despite only giving birth to one pup each year.

no common name (paucidentomys vermidax)

these recently-discovered rats have upper incisors that resemble fangs and their latin name means “worm-devourer.” only two specimens have been found from two locations: the wet forests of mt. gandagdewata and mt. latimojong in sulawesi. unusually, they lack molars. the closest relative of this rat has its molars, which suggests that this particular species lost its back teeth at some point during its evolutionary history. the ability to gnaw has helped rodents to be as successful as they are, so it's interesting that this one species has reversed this trait.

fat sand rat (psammomys obesus)

fat sand rats are from the gerbil subfamily. they can be found in sandy deserts, rocky terrain and saline marsh areas where they dig their own burrows. this species has much medical significance: it has been used in the study of diabetes (they quickly become obese when fed a normal rodent diet), seasonal affective disorder (because they are diurnal) and kidney function (because they can produce highly concentrated urine).