Littledale's Whistling Rat

About the Littledale's Whistling Rat

Littledale's whistling rat (Parotomys littledalei) is one of two species of murid rodent in the genus Parotomys, the other being Brants's whistling rat (Parotomys brantsii). It is found in Namibia and South Africa. Its natural habitats are temperate shrubland, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, and temperate desert.

Littledale's whistling rat is very similar in morphology to Brants's whistling rat, but can be distinguished by the structure of the incisor teeth and by the pitch and length of the whistle-like call it emits. Males have a head-and-body length of about 215 mm (8.5 in) while females are a little smaller. The ears of Littledale's whistling rat are rather more pointed than those of Brants's whistling rat.

Littledale's whistling rat is found in some of southwestern Africa's driest area, the fringes of the Namib Desert and the Karoo region, with a total area of occupation of less than 2,000 km2 (770 mi2). Its range includes southern Namibia and western South Africa, but does not extend into Angola. It has a rather patchy distribution and may not be able to disperse easily; when a prolonged drought occurred in the Goegap Nature... Wikipedia →