Mammals of the WorldMoonrat
Echinosorex gymnura
- Order
- Eulipotyphla
- Family
- Erinaceidae
- Genus
- Echinosorex
- IUCN status
- LC
- Distribution
- Myanmar|Thailand|Malaysia|Brunei|Indonesia
- Realm
- Indomalaya
Other names: Malayan Moonrat|Raffles' Gymnure
About this species
- Size
- Head and body 32–40cm; tail 20–29cm
- Weight
- 870–1,100g
- Diet
- Mainly carnivorous: small animals
- Habitat
- Moist forest, including mangrove and swamp forest; often enters water
- Range
- Sumatra, the Thai-Malay Peninsula and Borneo
The moonrat is a fairly small, primarily carnivorous mammal, the only member of its genus within the hedgehog and gymnure family (Erinaceidae). Despite the name it is not closely related to rats. It has a strong, pungent ammonia smell. The head and body are 32–40 cm, the tail 20–29 cm and the weight 870–1,100 g. The Sumatran and Thai-Malay subspecies has a white or grey-white head and front half with the rest mostly black, while the Bornean subspecies is generally white with a sparse scattering of black hairs (Wikipedia, general species account).
Moonrats are nocturnal and terrestrial, lying up under logs, roots or in abandoned burrows during the day. They inhabit moist forests including mangrove and swamp forests and often enter water (Wikipedia, general species account).
Description: Wildlife of Malaysia guide, Wildlife of Everywhere (wildlifeofeverywhere.com); general species information paraphrased from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)