First Mammal to Go Extinct Due to Climate Change

Climate change induced by human beings has claimed its first victim in ‘Class Mammalia’ of the ‘Animal Kingdom’: the Bramble Cay melomys — a ‘little brown rat’ found in Australia.

Key Points

• The Melomys rubicola, also referred to as the Bramble Cay Mosaic-tailed rat, was found in Bramble Cay, a small vegetable coral key at Australia’s extreme north.
• The government of Australia’s Queensland province reported the species to be extinct in June 2016. Any member of the species had not been seen for about a decade.
• Some researchers though maintained that there was still an outside chance of its survival. It ....