A South-East Asian forest rat with rigid spines scattered across its back, the Indomalayan Spiny Rat is far more widespread on the mainland than its Philippine and Indonesian relatives in the same "spiny rat" group.
Medium-sized, with the pelage on its back covered in stiff reddish spines, a feature shared with other related species in the region; it differs from them mainly in its wider geographical distribution and subtle cranial differences.
Ground-dwelling, it builds small nests or shallow burrows on the forest floor; it leaves remains of fallen fruit and consumed insects as feeding signs.
Forests of Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Java, Borneo and Sumatra.
Omnivorous; roots, fallen fruit and other plants, as well as insects.
Terrestrial, shy and elusive; it avoids food of human origin and builds nests lined with fallen leaves.
A widely distributed species with no evidence of significant decline.
No major global threats have been identified.
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