Did you know there’s a rat poisonous enough to kill an elephant? Lophiomys imhausi, also known as the crested rat, the maned rat, and the African crested rat, is a deadly rarity says Aoife Glass.
The crested rat is the only known poisonous rodent, and the only known mammal to sequester plant toxins for use as a defense mechanism.
What does the crested rat look like?
Adult crested rats grow to between 360mm and 530mm head to tail. The small head is covered in short, black fur, while the body and tail have a thick grey and white undercoat with longer guard hairs tipped white or black, together giving the impression of a small, fluffy skunk.
A mane of longer black and white banded hairs stretches the length of the rat from the head to the base of the tail, and this is the crest or mane from which the animal gets its name. When it’s threatened, this mane erects, exposing a band down each side of the body, bordered in white, with specially adapted hairs covering glandular skin.
This has two purposes. The first, like a skunk, is to display warning colouration. The second is to reveal those specially adapted hairs, which contain enough toxin to make any animal that decides to take a bite ...