6 Rakali or Water Rat at Belconnen, ACT
Identification history
| Hydromys chrysogaster | 8 Jun 2019 | DonFletcher | ||
| Hydromys chrysogaster | 7 Jun 2019 | AlisonMilton |
Identify this sighting
Please Login or Register to identify this sighting.
User's notes
Watched these rats for 30 minutes. First spotted one going into rushes at the edge of the lake, then it spent some time 'hunting' before venturing out into deeper water and returned with what looked like a yabby (photo 4). A while later he emerged and made his way across this section of the lake, till he reached a wall on the other side. Following the wall to a patch of grasses he 'startled' a second rat that jumped into the lake on his approach. The two rats then engaged in what I initially thought a mating ritual but on reviewing my photos it seems one had caught a large yabby and the second rat was attempting to sneak up to steal the prey (photo 2). This ensured for about 5 minutes. There was then some further interaction out in the water (photo 5). Both rats then retreated back to the 'female' territory where one kept dipping its face into the water and perhaps preening (photo 1).
1 comment
Waterwatch
wrote:
11 Jun 2019
Thanks for the detailed notes Alison. Some really useful observations there.
Location information
- Coordinates 149.069018-35.222440
- Altitude 575.0m
- Places Belconnen, ACT
Sighting information
- 2 Abundance
- 6 Jun 2019 02:19 PM Recorded on
- AlisonMilton Recorded by
-
Collections
Featured AlisonMilton Canberra & Southern Tablelands NatureMapr Hydromys chrysogaster Rats Rodents Mammals
Species information
- Hydromys chrysogaster Scientific name
- Rakali or Water Rat Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Local native
- Non-invasive or negligible
- Up to 1940m Recorded at altitude
- External link More information
Record quality
- Images or audio
- More than one media file
- Verified by an expert moderator
- Nearby sighting(s) of same species
- GPS evidence of location
- Description
- Additional attributes