Scientists have discovered three extinct species of giant cloud rats known locally as buot in the Philippines.
After a four-year study, scientists from the University of the Philippines, the National Museum of the Philippines, and the Field of Museum of Natural History in the United States discovered Carpomys dakal, the largest of the so-called fossil cloud rats, because it was “much larger compared to known living species same genus “; Crateromys-Ballik, which was “slightly smaller than the living Crateromys species in Luzon”; and Batomys cagayanensis, named for the location where the archaeological sites were located.
The study, led by Dr. Janine Ochoa, Armand Salvador Mijares, Philip Piper, Marian Reyes and Lawrence Heaney confirmed that the newly introduced species only lived in the Philippines.
The study, published Friday in Oxford Academic’s Journal of Mammalogy, analyzed fossils from the Callao Cave in Cagayan, the site where Homo luzonensis, a previously unknown species of humans, was discovered in 2019.
In an exclusive interview with GMA News Online, Ochoa, lead author and assistant professor of anthropology at UP Diliman, said that they did not expect to discover the three species when they began their analysis in 2017.
This was because there were cloud rats living in the area and they expected to find their remains there, not the extinct ones.
“Actually, it’s pretty awesome,” Ochoa said, adding that in addition to the specimens unearthed in 2007, some of the specimens found at the National Museum were found in the 1970s and 1980s.
“They’ve been there a while,” she said. When they started analyzing in 2017, they only realized they were various giant cloud rats, she added.
Ochoa said they were surprised that they were completely different species and did not expect to find them in the lowlands, especially the three species in these genera.
She also noted that the scientific names of the three new species of fossil cloud rats were chosen from the Filipino languages found in Luzon.
To date, there are 18 living species of cloud rats, or buot, which are herbivorous mammals that live in trees, have furry tails and a showy coat color and can only be found in the Philippines.
The three newly discovered species differed in their characteristic tooth morphology, body size and habitat.
The extinct species lived in lowlands or forests over limestone, in contrast to existing species that lived in mossy forests on the mountains with an altitude of at least 1,200 meters.
“These differences in height and habitat type confirm our morphological evidence that they represent different species. These observations also allow the conclusion that all three species are likely to be extinct, ”says an extract from the study.
Two of these extinct specimens were recorded 2,000 years ago, meaning they were resilient and persistent for tens of thousands of years.
The study also showed that these giant cloud rats survived alongside Homo luzonensis.
Ochoa said the cause of the extinction needed further investigation, but the possibility exists that it was caused by human or anthropogenic activity, as the last recorded occurrence of the two species also came after the arrival of agricultural societies.
“The last record we have for the two of them is about 2,000 years ago or a little later,” she said, adding that Homo sapiens, modern humans with domesticated animals and invasive species like monkeys were known.
The professor said it was possible that the “confluence” of human or anthropogenic activity, in addition to hunting, led to their extinction.
These extinct giant clouds could also have been hunted for food by humans.
Ochoa said the fossil accumulation contained remains of species that were hunted by humans, such as: B. wild boars.
“[I]We need to do more studies on the Iyong Nila Pero Association (that’s their association, but), ”she said.
In an NMP press release, Heaney said such studies could help the public understand the effects of overhunting.
“This is something we need to understand if we are to be effective in preventing future extinction,” said Heaney, Negaunee curator for mammals at the Field of Museum of Natural History.
Meanwhile, Ochoa said the discovery of these extinct species further demonstrated how “enormous the biodiversity” is in the Philippines.
The study also said the discovery of the three recently extinct species showed that the diversity of this characteristic endemic Filipino radiation was at least 17% higher in the recent past.
Ochoa said she didn’t learn at school that the Philippines has such high levels of biodiversity and endemism, which she defined as the condition of a species that is only found in the country.
“It just means there’s a lot more to learn and a lot more to discover. It is important for us to understand the biodiversity of the past so that we can understand biodiversity in the present and this helps us in our conservation efforts to appreciate the remaining biodiversity, ”said the professor.
[That just means there are more things to study about and more things to discover. It’s important for us to understand the biodiversity in the past so we can understand the biodiversity in the present, and that helps us in our conservation efforts to protect the remaining biodiversity.] – RC, GMA news
