The animal in the 2025 footage is the subalpine woolly rat (Mallomys istapantap), a real species of giant rodent native to New Guinea. The photographs and video are the first scientific documentation of the species alive in its natural habitat—not its first discovery, and not proof that local people had never seen it.
What rat was filmed in New Guinea?
The footage shows Mallomys istapantap, commonly called the subalpine woolly rat. Scientists described the species in 1989 from museum material, but it remained poorly documented in life. In 2025, the Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences announced that biologist František Vejmělka had photographed and filmed it during a survey on Mount Wilhelm in Papua New Guinea. The peer-reviewed account appeared in Mammalia that year. The Biology Centre’s announcement describes the field documentation.
“First ever” refers to the first known scientific photographs and video of the rat alive in its natural habitat. It does not mean the species was newly discovered in 2025, or that people in the region had never encountered it. ABC News reported that local hunters knew the shaggy rat and that roughly 50 specimens—mostly skulls—were held in scientific collections before the expedition. ABC News’ report describes that distinction.
Where was the rat filmed?
Vejmělka surveyed Mount Wilhelm, which rises to 4,509 metres and is Papua New Guinea’s highest mountain. The species inhabits cool, misty montane forests and grasslands at approximately 3,000–3,700 metres on New Guinea. Trail cameras captured its nocturnal activity. The survey covered the mountain from base to summit, but that does not mean the rat lives throughout that entire elevation range.
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Indigenous hunters and local communities were essential collaborators. Hunters helped locate the animals, and Vejmělka also examined rats they obtained to collect measurements and study stomach contents. He told ABC News: “If it weren’t for the indigenous hunters who accompanied me in the mountains and helped me locate the animals, I would never have been able to collect this data.”
How big is the subalpine woolly rat?
Published descriptions give different figures, reflecting different animals or reporting conventions. The Czech Academy release reports a total length, including the tail, of up to 85 cm and a weight approaching 2 kg; ABC News describes animals in its report as about 75 cm and 1.5 kg. Both figures indicate a strikingly large rodent, but they should not be treated as measurements of one individual.
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The rat’s dense, shaggy fur, large paws, and prominent incisors suit its common name. The Academy release reports paws measuring about 8 cm. Reddish-brown fur on the chest was also documented in the field observations.
What does it eat, and how does it live?
The subalpine woolly rat is nocturnal and climbs trees. It spends daylight hours in underground burrows or in tree canopies. Trail-camera footage and field observations indicate that it feeds on ferns and other plant material. Vejmělka examined stomach contents from rats caught by local hunters, confirming the herbivorous diet; ABC News reported stomachs filled with ferns.
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Its remoteness helps explain why it has been hard to study: its high-elevation habitat is steep and difficult to reach, and the rat is active at night and relatively quiet. Camera footage and examination of hunter-obtained animals provided different kinds of evidence, allowing researchers to document activity as well as physical characteristics and diet.
Why is this species scientifically unusual?
New Guinean woolly rats are among the world’s largest murine rodents. The Czech Academy says they diversified in highland environments over more than five million years. Smithsonian’s account relays Vejmělka’s explanation that their ancestors arrived from Asia roughly five million years ago and encountered an island with marsupials and monotremes but few competing placental mammals. That is evolutionary context offered by the researcher, not a result measured by the Mount Wilhelm survey. Smithsonian’s account discusses that explanation.
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The wider Mount Wilhelm survey genetically identified 61 species of rodents and marsupials, according to the Czech Academy. That figure refers to the broader survey, not to the number of woolly rat species or individuals.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Is the giant New Guinea rat endangered?
The available reports do not give Mallomys istapantap a formal IUCN category, a population estimate, or a quantified population trend. Vejmělka described the rats as locally abundant and suggested their scarcity in scientific records may reflect the difficulty of reaching their habitat and observing a nocturnal animal, rather than necessarily a low population. Elusiveness alone is not evidence that a species is endangered. Its distribution, demography, threats, and conservation status still need further study.
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