For over 20 years any knowledge about this animal came from stories of sightings and local reports from the Vangunu People.

It's never been photographed of captured before... But you're about to see it.

Uromys Vika - depiction by an artist. (click image to enlarge)

Habitat

Vangunu Island, part of the Solomon Islands is a rather remote place based North-West of Australia. Temperature is pretty steady through out the year with few extremes and average of about 26.5 °C (79.7 °F) . Surrounded by the steaming oceans climate here is extremely humid. This creates a very distinct ecosystem of Volcanic Rainforests.

That's how tropical forest biome looks like, a picture in another part of Solomon Islands
nearby Vangunu Island

Vangunu Island marked on the map, barely visible in this scale

Locals are mostly skilled fisherman, industrialization began still relatively recently but it's progressing at steady, dangerous pace.

Local fisherman selling fish.

It's a popular diving spot and if not for touristic attention it brings, who knows if it would become a popular biologists spot and if the tales of the giant rat would ever be heard and verified.

In 2010, Mammalogist Tyrone Lavery, inspired by such stories of giant tree-dwelling, coconut-cracking rat went for first expedition to Solomon Islands and began his quest.

Dr Tyrone Lavery

When I first met with the people from Vangunu Island in the Solomons, they told me about a rat native to the island that they called vika, which lived in the trees, I was excited because I had just started my Ph.D., and I'd read a lot of books about people who go on adventures and discover new species.

-He recalls.

Ecological problems and growing industrialism on the Island made it only more difficult. "Supposed rat" habitat was being destroyed at increasing rate by deforestation. It took many years of tracking, searching and researching just to learn how rare and elusive this mammal was. Finally the effort have paid off, along with John Vendi and Hikuna Judge, scientists managed to capture a single specimen, found in an industrially felled tree log.

It's been a really long time since any Rat species was discovered in this part of the world, especially of this size.

The only ever captured specimen of the Giant Tree-dwelling Rat.
(click image to enlarge)

The new species, Uromys vika, is pretty spectacular -- it's a big, giant rat. It's the first rat discovered in 80 years from Solomons, and it's not like people haven't been trying -- it was just so hard to find.

Said Lavery currently post-doctoral researcher at The Field Museum in Chicago and the lead author of the Journal of Mammalogy paper during the announcement of his discovery.

Animal was found sniffing around the tree-log.

As soon as I examined the specimen, I knew it was something different. There are only eight known species of native rat from the Solomon Islands, and looking at the features on its skull, I could rule out a bunch of species right away.

Said researcher.
Many comparisons, tests and examination as well as genetic tests were run in order to confirm the discovery for sure, the rat was also shown to the locals, who confirmed that's the sighted specie.

So what did we learn?

Vika's ancestors probably rafted to the island on vegetation, and once they got there, they evolved into this wonderfully new species, nothing like what they came from on the mainland - Lavery explains

First of all It's GIANT for a rat. Few times larger than the world-wide spread Black Rat (thanks to European colonists).
For comparison your regular alleyway rat is around 200g, this one grows as much as to 1kg, but we only seen one so far...
It's one and a half foot long and has a pretty ginger color.
It is a creature of the night and right and while it hasn't been observed cracking a coconut yet, it's been observe making circular holes in nuts, to get to the nutritious inside. Similar circular holes were found on the coconuts in the area and are ascribed to the Vika Rat.

Circular holes in the coconuts, found in the area.

It can do it with ease thanks to specially adapted jaws.

Giant Rat's skull - don't ask me where they've gotten it...
(click image to enlarge)

Sadly, it's very endangered

Very soon after discovery, due to it's extreme rarity and destruction of live habitat it will be declared as Critically Endangered. Considering how rare are discoveries of new mammals, this particular one could save the whole local ecosystem from destruction.

It's getting to the stage for this rat that, if we hadn't discovered it now, it might never have gotten discovered. The area where it was found is one of the only places left with forest that hasn't been logged, It's really urgent for us to be able to document this rat and find additional support for the Zaira Conservation Area on Vangunu where the rat lives.
This project really shows the importance of collaborations with local people
Underlined the researcher.

Vika was so hard to find, and the fact that I was able to persevere is something that I'm proud of.
Said Lavery

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There might be and surely are many more undiscovered, fabled and completely unknown animals still walking on and below this earth; flying in it's skies and populating it's waters. We should all do whatever we can to preserve this variety of beautiful life. The adventure and wonder still awaits there in the forest, mountains, jungles and I'm personally really glad to hear that. Not everything has been discovered and we can't imagine what we don't know, no hurry up before it's destroyed.