#pouched rat

[vintagewildlife]

South African pouched mouse By: John Markham From: Living Mammals of the World 1969

[deguarts]

Thanks for all the support through my pouched rat wood charms! I've donated $132 through APOPO to help support the HeroRATs. I did opt for the plush so I can have it hang out at my con tables (like with the pika plush) and I can point people to these organizations if they ask about him! Future donations will be directly monetary.

Pouched rat charms are available in my shop!

[eigelstudio]

Prompt 6: Mimic 

The Giant Potoo Rat

For the mimic prompt, I'm racing up to Just The Zoo of Us episode 28, featuring the Great Potoo and the African Giant Pouched Rat.

The Giant Potoo Rat is quite clever at using its natural coloration to help it stealthily hide while sleeping in plain sight by mimicking part of a stump or tree branch. Much like the Great Potoo, the Potoo Rat tucks in its wings and tilts its head in the air to better mimic the silhouette of a stump. It is able to sleep in upright positions, often tucking away its paws in its thick fur while it dozes in a motionless statue-like state.

A shy creature by nature, it relies on its strong senses of smell and hearing to alert it to danger and to also navigate the nocturnal world. 

Color Vision:

While I have not colored this creature (yet), I envision their coloring is inspired by the Great Potoo to have a similar mimicking effect to their avian counterpart.

Side note: To learn more about the inspiration behind this series, please check out the captions in any of my first three hybrid animals from this month!

[uncharismatic-fauna]

(Bonus) Uncharismatic Fact of the Day

If you like rats, you'll love the Gambian pouched rat, because there is a lot to love! It is the world's largest rat, weighing anywhere from 1.0 and 1.4 kg (2.2 and 3.1 lb). They are named for their equally impressive cheek pouches, which they use to hoard large quantities of food inside their burrows.

(Image: A Gambian pouched rat (Cricetomys gambianus) by Aubrey Kelley)

Want to request an uncharismatic critter? Just send me proof of donation to any of these vetted fundraisers for Palestinian refugees!

[ra1ny-daze]

those are certainly some creatures. little critters. if you will. their names are all will wood references. btw

[sentience-if]

Val affectionately calling a short MC a rat with MC taking a little pride in having their first nickname and then crying profusely when they actually see a rat for the first time and it scared them.

god Val how're you gonna get yourself outta this one

[mindblowingscience]

Giant African pouched rats are as clever as they are cute. Trained them to wear little backpacks, they can rescue people from disaster areas in return for a treat.

They can also find landmines that need disarming, sniff out tuberculosis, and have even been recruited in the fight against wildlife poaching.

So handy are these intelligent mammals, we can't seem to breed enough of them. It's not just a problem with demand – the supply is also mysteriously limited.

While many fellow rodents are notorious for their ability to rampantly multiply, the pouched rats (Cricetomys gambianus) have proven frustratingly unprolific.

"We wanted to understand their reproductive behaviors and olfactory capabilities, because they have been so important in humanitarian work," explained behavioral ecologist Alex Ophir in 2019 when first looking into their breeding behavior.

Around a meter (3 feet) long from whiskers to tail-tip, the animals are more closely related to a genus of Madagascan rodents called antsangy, than true rats. Their life-span is also a relatively lengthy eight years, with some females holding off on breeding until they're four years old. Some will stop breeding again after a successful pregnancy.

Baffled, researchers took a closer look and found to everyone's astonishment many of the female rats hadn't merely sworn off more kids, they'd closed shop, sealing off their vaginas.

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[ask-the-totally-real-peppino]

That cute bunny girl is called Noisette.Can you please tell me what you cooked besides pizza?

Pep: "...!"

Pep: "Si! Noisette was her name! Grazie friends! And grazie for Poco Noisette!"

Pep: "…Reh ot yrros yas ot deen I... Niaga reh ees nac I epoh I…"

Pep: "Bocnroc etalocohc ekil! Wonk I sepicer rehto eht fo emos em thguat ehs! Ssendnik reh rof reh knaht ot deen osla I tub."

Pep: "Enoyreve deef ot dah I tahw htiw dluoc I revetahw gnikam yltsom saw ti. Oot gnikab fo stol dna atsap fo stol saw ereht, azzip sediseb dekooc I tahw rof sa."

Pep: "Niaga yrt ot ecin eb dluow ti os, elihw a ni nevo gnikrow a dah t'nevah I. Noos gnikooc emos uoy wohs nac I ebyam!"

Pep: "Yrros... Naem uoy ohw wonk I kniht t'nod I... 'Sessob niam'...? Noitseuq rehto eht dna..."

[kannibalkaiii]

Survival Horror Rats

Resident Evil edition 🐀

Repost

[odditiesnoctobermidnightroad]

Familiar Friday - Gambian Pouch Rat

Although black and brown wild rats the world over can get very big -and undead- the world over, the true rodents of unusual size are Pouched Rats. They may be your nightmare OR your dream come true, depending on how you feel about rats. They're used in Tanzania for sniffing out landmines to dismantle and for detecting tuberculous- so they’re littlebig heroes! 

[pacificremains]

Look at this absolute limousine. Long boi.

It's a pouched rat skull. With a pathological dent in the cranium too!

[deguarts]

Happy to finally share my Gambian pouched rat (aka African giant pouched rat) charms! I'll be donating a portion of each sale to the APOPO HeroRATs!

[excited-insomniac]

Amazing work being done by APOPO 🐀

[muffinapologist]

We need to start domesticating more species of rats and I mean that

[thoughtlessarse]

Daniel is on a mission. Somewhere in the rubble and debris that surround him inside this wrecked building in central Tanzania, a survivor is trapped. Daniel is determined to find him. He navigates the wreckage like a pro, just as he’s been taught during his long months of search-and-rescue training. Moving methodically from room to room, he peers into dark corners obscured by debris and scans behind what’s left of the furniture. The job isn’t easy, and for his lifesaving work, he’s paid peanuts. But that doesn’t bother him. Daniel is, after all, a rat. And peanuts just happen to be his favorite food. Daniel is one of a cohort of elite "rescue rats” currently enrolled at the Apopo training centre in the Tanzanian town of Morogoro. Since the early 2000s, Apopo’s African giant pouched rats have been using their acute sense of smell to sniff out landmines and detect TB in sputum samples. Now, they look set to become search-and-rescue specialists too. Today’s operation is a training exercise. The “survivor” is, in fact, one of Daniel’s trainers, and the “disaster zone” has been carefully constructed to simulate a building struck by an earthquake or tsunami. It takes Daniel just two minutes to locate his target, a man in a blue coveralls slumped against a wall. Daniel stands on his hind legs and uses his front paws to pull a switch attached to his custom-made rescue vest, sending a signal to his handlers outside the building that he has successfully completed his mission. Then he retraces his steps through the rubble and exits through a hole in the wall.

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[ressoroll]

HAPPY MAD RAT MONDAY 💥💥