Mount Elgon vlei rat

The Mount Elgon vlei rat (Otomys jacksoni) is a rodent of the family Muridae that is found only on Mount Elgon, an extinct volcano on the border between west-central Kenya and south-eastern Uganda. It lives in alpine meadows between about 3,300 and 4,200 metres above sea level, and its whole range lies inside Mount Elgon National Park. It is a medium to large, robust animal that resembles a vole, with a large rounded head, a short tail that is dark above and greyish white below, shaggy brownish-black fur, and a pair of deep grooves on each lower incisor. Oldfield Thomas described it from three specimens collected in 1890 by Frederick John Jackson, and the species name honours him. It was later suggested to be a subspecies of Otomys typus, but it was reinstated as a valid species in 2005. The International Union for Conservation of Nature considers it near threatened as of 2021, with fires and unsustainable resource extraction by people as the threats.