---
title: "White-tailed Giant Rat"
description: "Uromys caudimaculatus — Mammals. The giant white-tailed rat (Uromys caudimaculatus) is an Australian rodent native to tropical rainforest of north Queensland, Australia with subspecies occurring in New Guinea and the Aru Islands."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/white-tailed-giant-rat
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# White-tailed Giant Rat

> Uromys caudimaculatus — Mammals. The giant white-tailed rat (Uromys caudimaculatus) is an Australian rodent native to tropical rainforest of north Queensland, Australia with subspecies occurring in New Guinea and the Aru Islands.

- Scientific name: *Uromys caudimaculatus*
- Category: `mammals` (Mammals)
- Habitats: `forest` (Forest), `jungle` (Jungle)
- iNaturalist observations: 459
- Wikidata: [Q677267](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q677267)
- iNaturalist taxon: [45361](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/45361)

## Names

- en: White-tailed Giant Rat
- de: Weißschwanzriesenratte
- nl: Mozaïekstaartrat

## Countries with the most observations

AU (374), ID (11)

## Summary

The giant white-tailed rat (Uromys caudimaculatus) is an Australian rodent native to tropical rainforest of north Queensland, Australia with subspecies occurring in New Guinea and the Aru Islands. It is one of the largest rodents in Australia, reaching up to 1 kg in weight. It is grey-brown above, cream to white below, and has a long, naked tail of which the distal section is white (Moore 1995).
Breeding commences in September or October, peaking in December and January at the height of the wet season. After a gestation of 36 days, a litter of two to three (rarely four) young are born, and remain with the mother for…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_white-tailed_rat

## Photo

![White-tailed Giant Rat](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/white-tailed-giant-rat/medium.jpg)

Photo: Grace · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/147086878

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/white-tailed-giant-rat?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).