A 14C dating of Canariomys bravoi (Mammalia Rodentia), the extinct giant rat from tenerife (Canary islands, Spain), and the recent history of the endemic mammals in the archipelago

Abstract

The endemic land mammals of the Canarian archipelago include five species: three rodents now extinct and two living shrews. We discuss their chronological distribution, the date, and the causes of their extinction. For the first time a 14C date is obtained for Canariomys bravoi, the giant rat of Tenerife: 12,230 ± 140 years BP. It confirms the presence of the endemic rat before man settled in Tenerife. It is not definitively established that Canariomys bravoi was contemporaneous with man. The two other endemic rodents, Canariomys tamarani from Gran Canaria and Malpaisomys insularis from Fuerteventura, got extinct after man settled on the islands. Weight estimations of the extinct rodents have been used in order to test the hypothesis of a possible competition with the introduced mammals. If competition is difficult to support, the size of the giant rats makes them good prey for hunting either by man or by feral dogs.