For the first time on record, a mammal species has likely been driven extinct by climate change. The species, a rat called the Bramble Cay melomys, lived on a single 9-acre island (Bramble Cay) off the northern coast of Australia.
“This extinction occurred more swiftly than anyone anticipated,” says Ian Gynther, a senior conservation officer with the local government of Queensland, Australia. “It highlights that human-induced climate change is already happening and cannot be ignored.”
The biggest culprit of climate change is the burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil. This produces heat-trapping gases that warm Earth’s atmosphere. The rising temperatures cause glaciers and ice caps on land to melt, adding water to the oceans. In addition, seawater expands as it warms. As a result, waters around the island where the rat lived rose 6 millimeters (0.2 inches) per year between 1993 and 2010. Bramble Cay flooded several times, killing the melomys and destroying its habitat. Unless an undiscovered population exists, the species is gone forever.