Mt. Isarog hairy-tailed rat - Philippine Wildlife Art

There are several volcanoes in the region where the Mt. Isarog Hairy-tailed Rat lives!

There is a special kind of cloud rat with a hairy tail that lives in the country’s most volcanically-active area ¹. In fact it can only be found on one single mountain there ², and it is the Mt. Isarog hairy-tailed rat.

When these cloud rats were studied, some of them were found on very steep sides of deep ravines, indicating that they also love to climb ³. The scientific name of the Mt. Isarog hairy-tailed rat is inspired by the language of its human neighbors in this region. Batomys uragon is inspired by the Bicolano word “uragon” meaning “possessing ability, vitality, or power.” ³

There is a chance that they are also vegetarians! They love to eat seeds, and maybe even leaves and fruits. Scientists refer to this kind of diet as granivorous (eats seeds), and frugivorous (eats fruits) ^{2, 3}.

The Mt. Isarog Hairy-tailed Rat loves seeds and fruits!

They live on a volcano: Mt. Isarog

Where they live is a very unique place. Mt. Isarog is not just a mountain, it is a volcano. It is one among a chain of volcanoes in the Bicol region that are on the edge of the great Pacific Ring of Fire ⁴. This “ring” goes around the Pacific Ocean and is lined with active volcanoes and frequent earthquakes ⁵. In fact, the area is so volatile that the Bicol region was once its own island ². The most well-known volcano in the chain is the active Mayon volcano.

Mt. Isarog is also home to over 1,300 plant species, as well as the Anayan-Rumangrap Watershed. This forested watershed supplies water to the 200,000 people of Naga City. It hydrates more than a dozen other towns in the area, and irrigates over 60,000 hectares of rice fields ⁶.

The Mt. Isarog hairy-tailed rat can not be found anywhere else on earth except for this one mountain. It certainly is as unique and special as the volcano it calls home.

Why is this species important?

It lives in forest where people not only enjoy the outdoors by trekking or hiking, but where people also are dependent on forest resources (i.e bamboo, firewood, medicine). This species is a sign of how healthy the forest is. If the forest is not healthy enough for it, the forest is not healthy enough to sustain human health, and happiness.
These forests are ecosystems, or places where life and the physical environment together form connected relationships and sustain each other ⁷. The forest ecosystem is important because they deliver water to us, and they absorb carbon dioxide and help control our climate ⁸.

How you can help

Reach out to local DENR offices in the Bicol region and ask how you can volunteer or assist in existing programs, or even surveys of these areas. One possible office to start could be the Provincial Environmental and Natural Resources Office or PENRO of Cam Sur.
Read studies and examples of successful conservation efforts that empower local communities. Use your resources to connect local organizations in Bicol with support, funding, training, and more to start or continue local conservation efforts.
If you are not from Bicol or are too far to visit, research into national forest laws that you can support, like the Forest Resources Bill.
Donate or volunteer with environmental NGOs like the Haribon Foundation and more.
Continue educating yourself and others on the importance of local biodiversity and ecosystems for people, and the planet.

This artwork and research is dedicated to the late Danilo Balete

Danilo Balete was involved in the discovery of more than half of the known small mammals in the Philippines ⁹. Originally from Bicol, Balete introduced conservation measures on Mt. Isarog with the Haribon Foundation, and later worked on the Philippines mammal project of The Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois in the United States ¹⁰.

Danilo Balete passed away in 2017.

“It is extraordinary that so many new species of mammals remain to be discovered in the Philippines… In the past 10 years we’ve published formal descriptions of 10 other species, and other biologists have described five more. And we are nowhere close to the end of our discoveries. The Philippines may have the greatest concentration of unique species of animals of any country in the world.”
-Danilo Balete, in an article in the ScienceDaily, “Seven new species of mammals discovered on Luzon, Philippines” (2011).