AUSTRALIA - After the announcement from Queensland, a three-year exhaustive search for the tiny rodent called Bramble Cay melomys was carried out in the hope of debunking their announced extinction. However, their efforts have led to disappointment as the Australian government has recently announced the extinction of the Melomys rubicola, also known as Bramble Cay mosaic-tailed rat. In their press release, this unfortunate announcement has resulted in plans for enacting stronger protections for other endangered species.
The Bramble Cay melomys lived near Papua New Guinea. The tiny rodents thrived in just a single habitat that is a small reef island at the northern tip of the Great Barrier Reef. However, during the past recent years, the 1,500 feet by 500 feet sandy cay which is only three feet to ten feet above the ocean has been going through harsh weather conditions. Heavy waters have wiped out 97% of the vegetation in the area which is the only food source for the melomys.
A fisherman was reported to have spotted one of the possibly last surviving melomys during late 2009.
Towards the end of the 20th century, the Bramble Cay melomys were no longer very common. In 1998, a survey reported that only 93 individuals were left. Two decades before that, there were said to be hundreds. A recovery plan for the species in 2008 reported that there were only 10 and 12 of the rodents remaining in 2002 and 2004, respectively. In 2014, attempts to trap some of the rodents for a captive breeding program have failed. Authors of the report have noted the possible but slim chance for the species to be found around the Fly River delta are in Papua New Guinea where scientists hypothesize the Bramble Cay melomys originated from.
Federal policy director for the Wilderness Society, Tim Beshara, pointed out that the 2008 recovery plan has listed then-potential threats to the melomys. These included flooding, coastal erosion, and sea-level rise which turned out to be on point. However, the plan was never acted upon or even finished at all.
The second announcement of the Bramble Cay melomys' extinction has confirmed that climate change has started to claim extinction. For now, it is a mammal, a tiny rodent that once thrived in the eastern Torres Strait of the Great Barrier Reef. The Bramble Cay melomys were given tribute on February 20, 2019, through a published cartoon in Andrew Marlton's "First Dog on the Moon."
