Researchers Detail ‘Unique’ Hog-Nosed Rat First Discovered in Indonesia

In 2013, researchers studying the island’s other rat species caught two of these pig-snouted rodents inside traps. Five such rodents were first discovered on the island in January and the researchers published a study on them in The Journal of Mammalogy.

According to Gizmodo, the hog-nosed rat’s scientific name is Hyorhinomys stuempkei and was recently discovered in an island in Indonesia.

It has a nose like a cute little piglet’s, ears that only a mother could love and teeth that would make Dracula run in fear: This odd-looking rodent captured researchers’ attention when they discovered it back in 2013, but now they’ve described it as a new species.

Esselyn also noticed that he might just have discovered a new set of species because the rat seemed to be part of the island’s endemic population.

Jake Esselstyn is the Curator of Mammals at the Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science. However, neither was as exceptional as H. stuempkei.

“When you look at this animal, the first thing you notice is its nose”.

Dr Rowe said the rat’s closest relative was a group of shrew rats found on Sulawesi but that they were not closely related. “I don’t know of any other rodents that have lost the coronoid process completely”. He noted that the hog-nosed rat has nasal passages that face forward, instead of being directed to the sides as they are in other species of shrew rat.

In 2012, scientists had already discovered a similar speices-the few-toothed shrew rat-which they believe was successful at evolution because it had developed incisors for gnawing and molars for grinding (much like human and other higher animal teeth). The ears are slightly too large for a rat this size. The incisors stand at an incredible 0.75 inches (20 millimeters) in length that it likely uses to dig deep into its prey.

The hog-nosed rat has nearly the snout of a hog, with nostrils that certainly remind of one.

The reason why their mouth is not used for chewing is mainly because of its food preference – earthworms and beetle larvae that they can easily slurp like spaghetti.

Due to having caught the specimens in traps, the scientists have not been able to observe the hog-nosed rat in the wild, and can only speculate about its movements and feeding habits.

“It was exciting as I knew immediately that we had a new species”, Dr Rowe said.