Team takes first-ever photos of the Vangunu giant rat

A team of Zaira Rangers, a mammalogist with The University of Melbourne and a college professor with Solomon Islands National University have taken the first and only pictures of the rare Vangunu giant rat. In their project, reported in the journal Ecology and Evolution, the group set up camera traps with tips from locals and studied the images to identify the animals.

For many years, locals living in the Solomon Islands have reported stories of large rats that climb trees and crack open coconuts with their teeth. Because the rats went unstudied by scientists, it was unknown whether the rats were a unique species or even if the stories were true. In 2017, a team of researchers from the Field Museum in Chicago ventured to the islands intent on discovering the truth.