Clever creatures and easy to identify

If you are hanging around the creek very early in the morning or late in the afternoon, you just might be lucky enough to spot a Rakali Hydromys chrysogaster swimming silently through the water. These native water rats are easy to identify with their distinctive tails. Rakali have a body length of 23–37 cm and are black to brown in colour with an orange to white belly and dark tail with a white tip. They have partially webbed hind legs, waterproof fur, a flattened head, a long blunt nose, many whiskers and small ears and eyes.  While not quite as large, Rakali can easily be mistaken for a Platypus. In August 2025 the Rakali was overwhelmingly voted No. 1 as Australia’s most underrated animal in the ABC’s National Science Week poll.

The word Rakali originates from the Ngarrindjeri language, spoken by the traditional inhabitants of the lower Murray River. Rakali was adopted as the common name in 1995 to provide the Hydromys chrysogaster with an Australian indigenous name and to distinguish it from feral rats which were considered vermin. The local Brisbane indigenous name for Hydromys chrysogaster is Kuril. The place name Kurilpa means place of the water rat and commonly refers to the South Brisbane area.

Rakali Hydromys chrysogaster. Photo: Patrick Kavanagh CC BY 2.0

Rakali live near permanent water in a diverse range of habitat that varies from fresh slow-moving streams, brackish inland lakes and creeks to wetlands, rivers, estuaries and beaches on coastlines. Found in all states and territories. (See map at bottom.) Their home range typically comprises 1–4 km of waterways and they can travel a distance of between 200 metres to 1 km in a night when foraging. They are carnivorous, feeding on a variety of aquatic animals including fish, crustaceans, molluscs and other shellfish, insects, small birds, eggs, mammals, frogs and reptiles. When other food is scarce they will also eat vegetation. Rakali have also adapted to target cane toads, carefully dissecting them to eat their hearts and livers while avoiding the toxic skin and glands.

Rakali prefer low banks with flat, densely vegetated water edges for protection and ease of stalking prey, spending time when not foraging resting in hollow logs and burrows. Rakali are regularly seen in Enoggera catchment. Group convenor of the Bob Wilson Riaweena Street bushcare site Bob Wightman reports, “My most recent encounter was about 5 years ago while crossing the School Road-Riaweena Street footbridge early one morning. I just happened to lean over to check the water level and one emerged out of the water and went up the bank. It was shiny wet with its distinctive white tip.” Bob stopped seeing Rakali in his backyard on Enoggera Creek when a new neighbour arrived with cats.

Other sightings of Rakali include:

• Yoorala Street West. Ed Bennett reports seeing Rakali in that area in 2024 and 2025.
• Walton Bridge Reserve. Anne Jones and Robert Whyte report sightings in Enoggera Creek. Rob saw a Rakali behind the skate park in 2003 with the trainees from the Green Corps project.
• Three Mile Scrub. Chris Galbraith and her volunteers see lots of Rakali near the creek at Banks Street Reserve.
• Woolcock Park. Alen Chenoweth reports a very likely sighting at Clean Up Australia Day 2023 on Ithaca Creek.
• Glenella Street Park. Anne Jones reports seeing a Rakali in Fish Creek in 2015.

Several bushcare volunteers raised concerns about feral predators. Predators of the Rakali range from large fish and snakes when they are young and in the water, to birds of prey, foxes and cats. Humans were a significant predator in the past until they were protected by elgislation in 1938. Populations susequently recovered and their conservation status is of least concern.

Rakali Hydromys chrysogaster swimming. Photo: Leo Oystercatcher CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Hydromys chrysogaster. Image: Gustav Mützel Biodiversity Heritage Library PDM 1.0

Distribution of Rakali. Photo: Nrg800 GNU FDL