Pocock's highland rat

Pocock's highland rat, Rattus pococki, is a species of rat in the family Muridae native to New Guinea. It was described by Sir John Ellerman, 2nd Baronet, in 1941 and named for Reginald Innes Pocock, a zoologist who worked at the Natural History Museum in London and later as superintendent of the Zoological Garden in London. It is closely related to Rattus niobe, and in 2005 Musser and Carleton provisionally recognised it as a separate species because it is larger with slightly darker fur, noting that its relationship to R. niobe needs further study. It is also similar to Rattus arrogans but smaller and darker. It occurs in the Central Cordillera of Papua Province, Indonesia, and in Papua New Guinea, in mountain tropical forest between 1500 and 2500 metres. The IUCN lists it as least concern, because its wide distribution suggests an abundant population and it has no major threats.