The experts also found it has large ears and 'very long urogenital hair'

from other rats because of its large, flat nose

A rodent unlike any other has been spotted in a small town in the north of Sulawesi.

It has a large, snout-style nose, extremely large ears, flat nails instead of the typically sharp claws found on other rats and 'very long' pubic hairs.

Dubbed hog-nosed shrew rat, it is one of only eight species of this type found on the Indonesian island and experts have described the find as 'remarkable.'

The hog-nosed shrew rat, or Hyorhinomys stuempkei (pictured) has a large, snout-style nose, extremely large ears, flat nails instead of the typically sharp claws found on other murines and 'very long' pubic hairs. It also has long hind legs that are likely used for hopping

The discovery was made by mammologists Dr Kevin Rowe and Dr Jake Esselstyn from Museum Victoria in Australia.

The creature was found in a trap on Mount Dako in the region of Tolitoli, central Sulawesi, in 2013 and the findings are published in this month's Journal of Mammology.

The hog-nosed shrew rat has been officially classified as Hyorhinomys stuempkei. Hyorhinomys is Greek for hog (hyo) nose (rhino) and rat (mys).

It has long hind legs, likely used for hopping, a very small mouth opening and no coronoid process on its mandible - part of the jaw used in chewing that is seen in almost all other mammals, including humans.

The creature was found in a trap on Mount Dako in the region of Tolitoli, central Sulawesi (marked), in 2013 and the findings are published in this month's Journal of Mammology

The researchers describe its pubic, or urogenital hairs (underside of the rat shown), as being 'very long' but do not specify how long this is, or how this compares to other species. Instead, Dr Rowe described them as 'curiously long' and told MailOnline they 'are much longer than the hairs on any rats' that he is aware of

The researchers describe its pubic, or urogenital hairs, as being 'very long' but do not specify how long this is, or how this compares to other species.

THE HYORHINOMYS STUEMPKEI The creature was found in a trap on Mount Dako in the region of Tolitoli, central Sulawesi and Hyorhinomys is Greek for hog (hyo) nose (rhino) and rat (mys). It has long hind legs, likely used for hopping, a very small mouth opening and no coronoid process on its mandible - part of the jaw used in chewing that is seen in almost all other mammals, including humans. The researchers describe its pubic, or urogenital hairs, as being 'very long' but do not specify how long this is, or how this compares to other species. The fur on the rest of the Hyorhinomys is unlike that of any other murine currently known from Sulawesi, because it is 'soft, relatively short and sparse.' H. stuempkei's large, flat, pink nose has forward-facing nares, or nostrils, and it has 'extremely long incisors' that are white, as opposed to the orange incisors seen in almost all rodents. Elsewhere, the forefeet of H. stuempkei are short and pale, with short, broad, nails that extend just beyond - around 1mm - the tip of the feet. Advertisement

Instead, Dr Rowe described them as 'curious' and told MailOnline they 'are much longer than the hairs on any rats' that he is aware of.

Similar hairs have only ever been seen on a marsupial called potoroos.

Unfortunately, Dr Rowe admitted he doesn't have any images of the hairs.

It is not known why these mammals adapted to have such long urogenital hairs, but Professor Robin Allaby from the School of Life Sciences at Warwick University told MailOnline: 'They may aid somehow in reproduction, or they may have something to do with the hopping habit.

'Long hairs often have a spatial sensory function, like a cat’s whiskers being used to gauge width.

'Such hairs may provide the rat with information about the terrain underneath them, for instance, or possibly provide proximity information during the mating process.'

The fur on the rest of the Hyorhinomys is unlike that of any other murine currently known from Sulawesi, too, because it is 'soft, relatively short and sparse.'

All other Sulawesi murines have much denser fur coats.

The dorsal hairs are white at the base, pale grey in the middle, and dark brown at the tip, but on the rump, these hairs have a 2mm-long white tip.

The longest underfur hairs reach around 15 mm, but its digits are hairless.

H. stuempkei's large, flat, pink nose has forward-facing nares, or nostrils, and it has 'extremely long incisors' that are white, as opposed to the orange incisors seen in almost all rodents.

Compared to other Sulawesi rats, the species also has large ears that make up 21 per cent of its head and body length.

Similar hairs have only ever been seen on a marsupial called potoroos (stock image). It is not known why these mammals adapted to have such long urogenital hairs, but they may provide the rat with information about the terrain underneath them, for instance, when hopping

H. stuempkei's large, flat, pink nose has forward-facing nares, or nostrils, and it has 'extremely long incisors' that are white (pictured), as opposed to the orange incisors seen in almost all rodents. Compared to other Sulawesi murines, the species also has large ears that make up 21 per cent of its head and body length

'To Australians, Hyorhinomys, is a bit like a rat version of a bandicoot, with long hindlimbs, huge ears, and a long, pointed face perfect for slurping up invertebrate prey,' said Dr Rowe.

'Every species of rodent here is only found on Sulawesi and how they relate to species found in Australia, Asia and the Philippines is uncertain.

'Many of them haven't been seen in decades, since the advent of technology in this field, and as a result we're finding many have never been seen by the scientific community.

'This rat, which we're calling the hog-nosed rat because of its long hog nose, is like no other rat that has been seen on Sulawesi.'

Elsewhere, the forefeet of H. stuempkei are short and pale, with short, broad, nails that extend just beyond - around 1mm - the tip of the feet.

Dr Rowe's colleague and co-author Dr Jake Esselstyn added: 'We know that this rat is new because it has several features that are not known in other rats on Sulawesi or, as far as I know, elsewhere in the world.

The forefeet of H. stuempkei are short and pale, with short, broad, nails that extend just beyond - around 1mm - the tip of the feet (pictured left with scans of the same foot pictured right)

The rat is most similar to a group of Sulawesi rats known commonly as 'shrew rats.' Discovery of this new family and species brings the total number of shrew rats on Sulawesi to six family and eight species. This table shows how H. stuempkei compares to these other genera and species

'It's got enormous ears for an animal of this body size, it's got a nose like a hog, it's also got flat nails on the hands instead of typically sharp rat claws.'

The rat is most similar to a group of Sulawesi rats known commonly as 'shrew rats.'

These are all long faced, carnivorous murines, and include the families Echiothrix, Melasmothrix, Paucidentomys, Sommeromys, and Tateomys.

Discovery of this new genus and species brings the total number of shrew rats on Sulawesi to six families and eight species.