Bramble Cay Melomys

“The Bramble Cay melomys, a small rodent that lives on a tiny island in the eastern Torres Strait, has been completely wiped-out from its only known location. It is also the first recorded extinction of a mammal anywhere in the world thought to be primarily due to human-caused climate change... The researchers concluded the “root cause” of the extinction was sea-level rise... It was estimated the area of the cay above high tide has decreased from 4ha in 1998 to 2.5ha in 2014. And worse for the melomys, they lost 97% of their habitat in just 10 years, with vegetation cover declining from 2.2ha in 2004 to just 0.065ha in 2014.”