Many
plants and animals in the Solomon Islands have evolved in stunning
isolation, as found in vika (Uromys vika), a giant rat that has a
quadruple size of its kind. In
a paper in the Journal of Mammalogy by researchers at the Chicago Field
Museum and Zaira Resource Management Area of the Solomon Islands, vika
is an interesting sight.
The rodent that has this scaly tail is dark brown and usually spends most of its time on a rainforest tree. So far the only vika found on Vangunu Island.
Although Uromys vika is a formally new and scholastic thing, these animals have become part of the traditional knowledge of the Vangunu inhabitants. The surrounding community has always known the young coconut-eating animals.
While vika itself newly known by researchers after years of search. Beginning when a writer, Tyrone Lavery, heard the story of rough-toothed rodents from the Vangunu population in 2010.
Although Uromys vika is a formally new and scholastic thing, these animals have become part of the traditional knowledge of the Vangunu inhabitants. The surrounding community has always known the young coconut-eating animals.
While vika itself newly known by researchers after years of search. Beginning when a writer, Tyrone Lavery, heard the story of rough-toothed rodents from the Vangunu population in 2010.
Many things
can be learned from the vika and the pattern of his life, such as when
the discovery of Canarium nuts with deep holes have been chewed chewed
and the meat has been removed. It is estimated that this giant rodents.
Vika was the first rodent discovered in the Solomon Islands in 80 years, and became a Solomon Islands endemic mammal because it is not found anywhere else on earth.
An island-based land mammal located in northeastern Australia, between Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea is dominated by bats and mice. Lavery said, "Vika's ancestors probably went to the island for vegetation growth, and after arriving, evolved into a very new species from the previous one."
Vika was the first rodent discovered in the Solomon Islands in 80 years, and became a Solomon Islands endemic mammal because it is not found anywhere else on earth.
An island-based land mammal located in northeastern Australia, between Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea is dominated by bats and mice. Lavery said, "Vika's ancestors probably went to the island for vegetation growth, and after arriving, evolved into a very new species from the previous one."
Not
long after the giant rat was discovered, Lavery and her colleagues were
forced to say that this animal is threatened with extinction. This is due to its limited reach in Vangunu alone and its habitat is threatened by logging.
