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The black-tailed tree rat, Thallomys nigricauda, is one of the few arboreal rodents inhabiting the southern African savannahs. During three field campaigns in 2001 and 2002 we collected data on the biology and ecology of T nigricauda in the Thornveld savannah of the Molopo Nature Reserve (NW Province, South Africa). T nigricauda lives a solitarily lifestyle in the Molopo Nature Reserve. Diet analyses shows that they are folivorous, specializing on leaves of Acacia mellifera and Acacia luederitzii. Male and female animals have a similar body size (approximate to 80 g). Mean age at weaning was 30 days and mean litter size at this age was 1.8. Monthly survival rates varied between 0.25 and 0.86. Density was estimated to be 0.5-1 individual ha(-1). Overall, our results show that the basic ecological characteristics of this arboreal rodent are fairly similar to other rodent species. (c) 2007 Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Saugetierkunde. Published by Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.