Bunn's short-tailed bandicoot rat
Species of rodent
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bunn's short-tailed bandicoot rat (Nesokia bunnii) is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found only in the marshes of southeastern Iraq and is named for the Iraqi zoologist Dr. Munir K. Bunni.[2] It is feared that the species might have gone extinct due to the draining of the Mesopotamian Marshes.[3]
| Bunn's short-tailed bandicoot rat | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Placentalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Muridae |
| Genus: | Nesokia |
| Species: | N. bunnii |
| Binomial name | |
| Nesokia bunnii (Khajuria, 1981) | |
In a Old Babylonian period cuneiform tablet from Tell Abu Antiq (bandicoot here refers to the Bunn's short-tailed bandicoot rat):
"... From Tur-Ugalla 7 bandicoots did Tutu-māgir send me; 6 to Šamaš-lamassašu, the ‘mirror-holder,’ I sent on; just one for my own repast I kept back, and it tasted excellent! How good they were had I but known, a single one to Šamaš-lamassašu I’d not have sent! ..."[4]
