Climate change has made a mammal extinct, great job humanity CREDIT ALAMY C8JWHX Fawn-footed Melomys Melomys cervinipes Photographed in north Queensland, Australia
The extinct rodent is a cousin of the fawn-footed melomys (Picture: Alamy)

For the first time ever, human-driven climate change has caused the extinction of a mammal.

The Bramble Cay melomys, a rodent, lived only in the Great Barrier Reef but has been wiped out by rising sea levels, according to Australian researchers.

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The long-tailed, whiskered creature lived only on Bramble Cay, a tiny island between Australia and Papua New Guinea, and was thought to be the only mammal native to the Great Barrier Reef.

Its extinction has been blamed on high tides causing ‘surging seawater’, which has destroyed the rodent’s habitat and food source.

Luke Leung, a scientist from the University of Queensland, told the New York Times: ‘The key factor responsible for the death of the Bramble Cay melomys is almost certainly high tides and surging seawater, which has traveled inland across the island.

Climate change has made a mammal extinct, great job humanity CREDIT ALAMY CN040W View of the Torres Strait islands from Green Hill Fort. Thursday Island, Torres Strait Islands, Queensland, Australia
The animal was only found on a tiny island in the Torres Strait (Picture: Alamy)

‘The seawater has destroyed the animal’s habitat and food source.

‘This is the first documented extinction of a mammal because of climate change.’

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Dr Leung was an author of a report on the species, which noted their disappearance and how scientists attempted to track them down.

An endangered species prior to its exinction, accounts of the melomys’ presence date back to 1845, when they were described as large rats.

In the 1970s, hundreds of the rodents were discovered – but their numbers plummeted, falling as low as 10 in 2002.

Climate change has made a mammal extinct, great job humanity CREDIT GETTY True colour satellite image of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. It is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 900 islands stretching for over 2600 km. It is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland in northeast Australia. The top of the image shows the Torres Strait and part of the south coast of Papua New Guinea. Composite image using LANDSAT 5 data.
Climate change is considered to be the biggest threat to the Great Barrier Reef (Picture: Getty)

A two-month exhibition by scientists in 2014 led to no melomys being captured and no evidence of their presence.

Researchers recommended that the species should be declared extinct.