Littledale's whistling rat (''Parotomys littledalei'') is one of two

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of murid rodent in the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

'' Parotomys'', the other being Brants's whistling rat (''Parotomys brantsii''). It is found in

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s are temperate shrubland, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, and temperate desert.

Description

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 while females are a little smaller. The ears of Littledale's whistling rat are rather more pointed than those of Brants's whistling rat.

Distribution and habitat

Littledale's whistling rat is found in some of southwestern Africa's driest area, the fringes of the

Namib Desert The Namib ( ; pt, Namibe) is a coastal desert in Southern Africa. The name is of Khoekhoegowab origin and means "vast place". According to the broadest definition, the Namib stretches for more than along the Atlantic coasts of Angola, Nami ...

and the Karoo region, with a total area of occupation of less than . 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 Reserve The Goegap Nature Reserve is a semi-desert nature reserve in Northern Cape, South Africa and lies around east of Springbok. The area was once used to graze livestock and was proclaimed in 1966 as a reserve then fenced in 1969 and wildlife introd ...

in 2003, the rat became locally extinct, and the area took about a decade before it was recolonised. Its habitat is shrubland with soils of sufficient depth for its burrow systems, typically sand dunes, coastal hummocks, gravel flats and the dry floors of valleys.

Ecology

Littledale's whistling rat is active during the day and feeds on grasses, succulents and other fresh plant material from which it obtains its water. It constructs extensive burrows under bushes, with several chambers containing shredded vegetation; these are linked by surface tracks which also lead to feeding areas. When it detects the presence of a predator, it emits a shrill whistle, and the rat's presence in an area can be evidenced by its vocalisations rather than visually.

Status

Littledale's whistling rat has a wide range which includes several protected areas. In suitable habitat, it is a common species, and seems to be facing no particular threats, and the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of nat ...

has assessed its conservation status as being of "

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

". The South African Regional Red List has assessed it as being ''

near-threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qualify f ...

'', citing its vulnerability to increased periods of drought, and to any changes of ground cover, such as increased grass or decreased shrubs, as a result of changes of grazing patterns.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1769423 Parotomys Mammals described in 1918 Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas Taxonomy articles created by Polbot