Animalia > Chordata > Mammalia > Rodentia > Spalacidae > Tachyoryctes > Tachyoryctes macrocephalus

Tachyoryctes macrocephalus (big-headed mole rat)

Wikipedia Abstract

The big-headed mole-rat, (Tachyoryctes macrocephalus), also known as the giant root-rat, Ethiopian African mole-rat, or giant mole-rat, is a rodent species in the family Spalacidae.It is endemic to Ethiopia's Bale Mountains. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical high-altitude grassland, where it can reach densities of up to 2,600 individuals per square kilometre. It is threatened by habitat loss. Where the two species overlap, it is the main prey of the endangered Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis).
View Wikipedia Record: Tachyoryctes macrocephalus

Endangered Species

Status: Endangered
View IUCN Record: Tachyoryctes macrocephalus

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
3
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
52
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 6.9
EDGE Score: 4.15
Learn more at EDGE of Existence programme

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  1.316 lbs (597 g)
Diet [2]  Herbivore
Diet - Plants [2]  100 %
Forages - Ground [2]  100 %
Litter Size [3]  1
Nocturnal [2]  Yes
Snout to Vent Length [3]  10 inches (26 cm)

Ecoregions

Name Countries Ecozone Biome Species Report Climate Land
Use
Ethiopian montane grasslands and woodlands Ethiopia, Eritrea Afrotropic Montane Grasslands and Shrublands
Ethiopian montane moorlands Ethiopia Afrotropic Montane Grasslands and Shrublands

Protected Areas

Name IUCN Category Area acres Location Species Website Climate Land Use
Bale Controlled Hunting Area 2387779 Oromīya, Ethiopia      
Bale Mountains National Park II 610597 Oromīya, Ethiopia  

Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE) Sites

Name  Location   Map   Climate   Land Use 
Bale Mountains Ethiopia

Biodiversity Hotspots

Name Location Endemic Species Website
Eastern Afromontane Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen, Zimbabwe Yes

Predators

Asio abyssinicus (Abyssinian Owl)[4]
Canis simensis (Ethiopian Wolf)[5]

Consumers

Parasitized by 
Ctenophthalmus caecus[6]

Range Map

External References

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Felisa A. Smith, S. Kathleen Lyons, S. K. Morgan Ernest, Kate E. Jones, Dawn M. Kaufman, Tamar Dayan, Pablo A. Marquet, James H. Brown, and John P. Haskell. 2003. Body mass of late Quaternary mammals. Ecology 84:3403
♦ 2Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027
♦ 3Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109
♦ 4Tachyoryctes macrocephalus, D. W. Yalden, Mammalian Species No. 237, pp. 1-3 (1985)
♦ 5Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme
♦ 6International Flea Database
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Biodiversity Hotspots provided by Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
AZE sites provided by Alliance for Zero Extinction (2010). 2010 AZE Update.
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0