A burrowing rodent from South East Asia with an almost mole-like appearance, the Lesser Bamboo Rat is capable of living in both mountain bamboo forests and tea gardens, where it can become a pest due to the tunnels it digs between plants.
Small and robust, with a cylindrical body around 20 cm long plus a short 6 cm tail; small ears almost hidden in the fur, which is soft and dense, ranging from reddish-brown to greyish-brown, sometimes with white stripes on the crown or a patch of white on the throat; short, strong legs adapted for digging.
Digs extensive burrow systems and tunnels in bamboo groves, plantations and disturbed soil. Its tracks and signs are revealed by earth mounds at entrances and visible damage to tea gardens and other crops near its tunnels.
Mountain bamboo groves, forest, plantations and disturbed land, from Bangladesh and Bhutan to southern China and Thailand.
Herbivorous; feeds on roots, bamboo shoots and other plant material encountered while digging.
Fossorial, constructing extensive underground tunnel systems. It can cause damage to tea plantations when building its burrows within them.
A species with a wide distribution across varied habitats, including disturbed ground, with no signs of significant decline.
Hunted by some communities for consumption in the Burmese hills; damage to tea plantations can cause conflict with farmers.
See all species accounts for rodents · Full species index
Mammaling is a free app for logging the mammals you find. You record a sighting in a moment — even if it's just a track — your life list grows, and the record becomes available to scientific and conservation projects.
It runs on your phone with nothing to install. If you like, it adds to your home screen like any other app.
Open Mammaling