Bramble Cay melomys

In 2016, the Australian Great Barrier Reef rodent aka Bramble Cay melomys became the first mammal species driven to extinction by human-induced climate change. The main reason for extinction Bramble Cay melomys is anthropogenic climate change. The climate change caused in ocean inundation (due to sea rise) of the low-lying cay areas of their habitat over the last decade resulting in dramatic habitat loss.

Bramble Cay melomys was a small rat-like (rodent) animal species in the family Muridae. It was Great Barrier Reef’s only endemic (found nowhere else) mammal species. It was mainly found in a small coral cay called Bramble Cay located off the north coast of Queensland in the Torres Strait between Australia and Papua New Guinea. Their coral cay habitat was only 340m long and 150m wide and was 3m above sea level.