Mount Kahuzi Climbing Mouse

Mount Kahuzi climbing mouse
Conservation status
Critically Endangered (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Nesomyidae
Subfamily:	Dendromurinae
Genus:	Dendromus
Species:	D. kahuziensis
Binomial name
Dendromus kahuziensis (Dieterlen, 1969)

The Mount Kahuzi climbing mouse (Dendromus kahuziensis) is a rodent found only in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is listed as a critically endangered species due to illegal logging; it is also threatened by fire. Only two specimens have ever been found. Both were found within 100m of each other on Mount Kahuzi. Its body length (excluding tail) is 50-100mm and its tail length is 65-132mm. Its habitat is tropical forests, and to navigate these forests it may use its semi-prehensile tail to hold onto tree branches. Its markings are brownish on the top and white to yellow on its underside, with strongly dark rings around its eyes. As with other Dendromus, it has three well defined toes.

References

• Dieterlen (2004). Dendromus kahuziensis. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is critically endangered
• Musser, G. G. and M. D. Carleton. 2005. Superfamily Muroidea. Pp. 894-1531 in Mammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.