Reappraisal of the extinction of Canariomys bravoi, the giant rat from Tenerife (Canary Islands)

Abstract

All the Quaternary endemic rodents of the Canary Islands are currently extinct. The Lava Mouse Malpaisomys insularis inhabited the easternmost islands, whereas the giant rats Canariomys bravoi and Canariomys tamarani lived in the central islands of Tenerife and Gran Canaria, respectively. Bones of C. bravoi have appeared in archaeological sites together with shellfish and butchery remains. Traditionally, they have been considered as an evidence of the sporadic consumption of C. bravoi by the aboriginal people, in some instances as recently as the time of the first European contact (14th century AD). Accordingly, the extinction of C. bravoi has been linked to the European colonization of Tenerife. The plausibility of this extinction date has been explored through new radiocarbon dates obtained on selected C. bravoi bones and through a reappraisal of the published dates. Our analysis allowed us to establish an earlier last documented occurrence age for C. bravoi, prior to the third century cal BC, much earlier than previously assumed. The analysis of formerly published 14C dates of archaeological remains from Tenerife shows that samples with confidence intervals (95.54%) that are older or overlap with the last documented record of C. bravoi were performed on materials with large sources of error (such as wood, charcoal or bulk ash-sediments). Conversely, the new radiocarbon dates and analyses presented herein are in agreement with the occurrence of an earlier rapid extinction linked to the first human presence on the island.