Daily Times

Australia officially declared a Great Barrier Reef rodent extinct on Tuesday, making it the first mammal believed to have been killed off by human-induced climate change. The rat-like Bramble Cay melomys — whose only known habitat was a small sandy island in far northern Australia — has not been spotted in a decade. Researchers from Queensland determined a key factor in its disappearance was “almost certainly” repeated ocean inundation of the cay — a low-lying island on a coral reef — over the last decade, which had resulted in dramatic habitat loss. Australia’s environment ministry on Tuesday said it had officially transferred the animal to the “extinct” list.

Published in Daily Times, February 20^th 2019.