The Australian government has confirmed the extinction of a small rodent native to a tiny spit of sand in the northernmost part of the Great Barrier Reef ― the first known mammal lost to human-caused climate change. Bramble Cay melomys lived on the coral island of Bramble Cay, located in the Torres Strait between Queensland state and Papua New Guinea. The Government of Queensland initially declared the species extinct in a 2016 report, and Australian Environment Minister Melissa Price confirmed the die-off in a press release this week. The whiskered rat has been officially reclassified from “endangered” to “extinct.” Geoff Richardson, an official with Australia’s Department of the Environment and Energy, told lawmakers on Monday that the declaration “was not a decision to take lightly,” according to The Sydney Morning Herald. “There’s always a delay while the evidence is gathered to be absolutely certain,” he said.

Ian Bell, Queensland Government The Bramble Cay melomys was officially declared extinct this week by the Australian government. The last reported sighting of the species was in 2009.

It is estimated that several hundred Melomys rubicola roamed the island in the late 1970s, according to the 2016 report co-authored by researchers at the University of Queensland. By the late 1990s, the population had fallen to below 100 individuals. The last reported sighting was by a fisherman in 2009. The 2016 report concluded that the “key factor responsible for the extirpation of this population was almost certainly ocean inundation,” which resulted in “dramatic habitat loss and perhaps also direct mortality of individuals.” Sea levels around the world have risen by an average 8 inches since the beginning of the 20th century, and are forecast to rise by as many as four additional feet by 2100, according to NASA. Thousands of low-lying atolls in the Pacific and Indian oceans could be left uninhabitable by the mid-century, a recent study found. In a series of posts to Twitter, Sen. Janet Rice, a member of the Australian Greens party, called the extinction “a huge tragedy” and accused Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison of turning a blind eye on the species. “There must be a review of how this happened,” Rice wrote. “No species needs to go extinct. This is a political choice.”

Bramble Cay Melomys extinct forever. First mammal in world to go extinct from climate change on this gov's watch. A huge tragedy. Recovery plan wasn’t implemented or reviewed & Morrison gov turned a blind eye.



Also staggering hypocrisy from @QLDLabor#wildoz#auspol#greens — Janet Rice (@janet_rice) February 20, 2019