Photographic evidence that a certain species is isn’t yet extinct:

A species of rat feared to have become extinct was recently captured in photos in a forest in a northern part of Okinawa’s main island.

It was the first sighting of the Ryukyu spiny rat in 15 years.

The pictures were taken by a team of Asahi Shimbun journalists and Okinawan photographer Masakazu Kudaka.

The nocturnal Ryukyu spiny rat (Tokudaia muenninki), listed by the Environment Ministry and the prefectural government as critically endangered, had not been confirmed alive since 1993.

Kudaka, 56, who helps monitor wildlife for the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute (FFPRI), teamed up with The Asahi Shimbun to set up motion detection cameras in spots where rats were thought to pass.

Four cameras with infrared sensors that automatically snap pictures when a creature passes by were set up in spring 2007.

One took two images of a rat at 3 a.m. on Feb. 28.

“There is really no mistaking that it is a Ryukyu spiny rat,” said Fumio Yamada, a researcher at the FFPRI’s Kansai Research Center, noting the spike-like coat and white hair on the rodent’s belly.

An adult rat typically measures around 15 centimeters.

Their numbers plummeted in and after the 1970s, having fallen prey to feral cats and other reasons.