Glacier rat
Rattus richardsoni (Tate, 1949)
The glacier rat (Rattus richardsoni) is a species in the family Muridae, order Rodentia. Recorded adults weigh about 64.3 g. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Vulnerable.
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Quick facts about the glacier rat
- Weight
- 64.3 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Herbivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Young per litter or clutch
- 2.15src for Young per litter or clutch
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Vulnerable (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
Where does the glacier rat live?
Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.
The glacier rat is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Why a country list is not a range map
Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
What is the glacier rat?
The glacier rat (Rattus richardsoni) is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is endemic to the New Guinea Highlands near Puncak Trikora (=Mt. Wilhelmina) and Puncak Jaya (=Carstensz Pyramid), West Papua, Indonesia. Its altitudinal range is 3,225–4,500 m (10,581–14,764 ft) above sea level.
From the Wikipedia article “Glacier rat” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Glacier_rat&oldid=1384667033), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the glacier rat endangered?
The glacier rat is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List: it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Vulnerable species. What the categories mean.
How is the glacier rat classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderRodentia
- familyMuridae
- genusRattus
- SpeciesRattus richardsoni (Tate, 1949)
Synonyms Stenomys richardsoni
Other names and names in other languages (9)
- Richardson s New Guinea mountain ratEnglish
- Richardson's New Guinea mountain ratEnglish
- Richardson’s mountain ratEnglish
- Richardson’s mountain ratEnglish
- Richardson’s New Guinea mountain ratEnglish
- krysa RichardsonovaCzech
- irianinjäätikkörottaFinnish
- リチャードソンクマネズミJapanese
- szczur lodowcowyPolish
Relatives of the glacier rat
Other species in the same genus Rattus.
Brown rat
Rattus norvegicus
Black rat
Rattus rattus
Polynesian rat
Rattus exulans
Ricefield rat
Rattus argentiventer
Summit rat
Rattus baluensis
Bush rat
Rattus fuscipes
CompareGlacier rat vs Brown ratGlacier rat vs Black ratGlacier rat vs Polynesian ratGlacier rat vs Ricefield rat
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the glacier rat?
An adult glacier rat weighs 64.3 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Where does the glacier rat live?
Catalogue of Life checklists list the glacier rat for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.
Is the glacier rat endangered?
The glacier rat is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, meaning it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.
What kind of animal is the glacier rat?
The glacier rat (Rattus richardsoni) belongs to the family Muridae in the order Rodentia.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Glacier rat (Rattus richardsoni). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/glacier-rat
“Glacier rat (Rattus richardsoni).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/glacier-rat.
@misc{glacier_rat_2026,
title = {Glacier rat (Rattus richardsoni)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/glacier-rat},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}