Rare species of rodent captured on West Virginia trail camera [Video]

An elusive rodent considered to be a “sensitive species,” has been spotted on a West Virginia trail in the Allegheny mountains.

Officials of Monongahela National Forest, a unit of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, posted a video on Facebook last week showing a small creature moving around in the darkness.

The trail camera had captured a 17-inch-long rodent known as an Allegheny woodrat which is on the Regional Forester’s Sensitive Species list, the post said.

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The footage showing the woodrat was recorded on March 12, 2024.

The social media post noted that Allegheny woodrats dwell “primarily in hardwood forests with plenty of rocks and boulders.”

And while the name and size of the creature may allude to a rat, the woodrats are more closely related to mice, according to officials.

The population of Allegheny woodrats is slowly …