The woman could not hide her surprise at this special creature.
Phatcharin Prathummek, the president of the Betong Animal Lovers Club, reached out to several news agencies to report her rare discovery. She then took journalists to her home, where the creature was found floating in a canal and was being kept.
The moon rat that Phatcharin Prathummek rescued.
Channel 3 reported that the animal was kept in a round plastic bucket outside Phatcharin’s house. She revealed that she had never encountered this creature before and had no information about it. She described its appearance as strange, with a body resembling a rat but a face similar to that of a pig.
Phatcharin accidentally spotted the creature floating along the canal, so she used a fishing net to pull it out of the water to save its life. Initially, she thought it was a bamboo rat but realized her mistake.
Adding to her surprise was the unpleasant odor and the creature’s aggressive behavior, which forced her to confine it in the bucket. The animal is believed to weigh over 1 kg.
The aggressive creature that forced her to confine it in the bucket.
Phatcharin studied this animal and identified it as the moon rat, a species listed as endangered. Moon rats are known as Noo Men or Sato in Thailand. The name Noo Men comes from the strong foul smell it emits, as the word “men” in Thai means “stinky.”
Moon rats are known for their strong ammonia-like odor, which they use to communicate with other moon rats. This species is solitary and prefers to live in burrows, tree hollows, or crevices beneath tree roots.
Moon rats have long, shaggy fur that is black and white, with a distinctive black stripe running across their eyes. Their upper lip and snout are long and slender, while their tails, similar to a rat’s, are covered in small scales.
Moon rats primarily feed on worms, beetles, various insects, and earthworms, but they also eat frogs, toads, shrimp, crabs, fish, and snails.
Moon rats are classified as an endangered species.
Moon rats are threatened due to the continuous destruction of their forest habitats. They are also protected under Thailand’s Wildlife Conservation and Protection Act.
Phatcharin and her friends in the fishing club emphasized that her purpose in sharing this news is to highlight this amazing discovery. They assured the public that they do not intend to keep the moon rat as a pet and will return it to its natural habitat as soon as possible.
