Galápagos Rice Rats: Facts and Where to See Them

Rice rats belong to Galápagos; black rats do not: they arrived in the holds of pirate and trading ships soon after the first European contact in the 17th century. Where the two met, the native rats lost.

• Three species extinct. Driven out by competition with black rats and by the diseases they carry.
• Safe by absence. The rice rats of Fernandina and Santa Fé survive because black rats never reached those islands.
• The exception. The Santiago rice rat is the only one to survive alongside black rats.

Black rats did not only push out the native rice rats. Many Galápagos birds nest on the ground, so their eggs and chicks are easy prey, and several island birds are now Critically Endangered. Rats also eat reptile eggs: in the 1960s, conservationists on Pinzón found that every giant tortoise they saw was almost a century old, because for decades no young tortoise had survived the egg or hatchling stage.

Guide sighting records list rice rats at 1 site: Santa Fé Bay on Santa Fé, home of the Santa Fé rice rat, rated Rare. The other survivors live on Fernandina and Santiago.

Rice rats live on their islands all year. In the next twelve months, 327 departures stop at Santa Fé Bay.

Yes. Depending on the species, they range from Critically Endangered to already extinct. The greatest danger is the arrival of black rats on an island where they are still absent. Park rules make every visitor responsible for not bringing animals, plants or food into the archipelago, which is exactly what protects islands such as Santa Fé.

1. Taking any rat for a rice rat. Black rats are widespread; rice rats survive only on Fernandina, Santiago and Santa Fé.
2. Leaving food ashore. Nothing brought to an island should stay there.
3. Counting on a sighting. The guide records rate Santa Fé Bay Rare.