The Nillu rat or Sri Lankan mountain rat (Rattus montanus) is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found only in Sri Lanka where it is known as à ®¨à ®¿à ®²à ¯Âà ®³à ¯ à ®Âà ®²à ®¿ (Nillu Eli) in Tamil and à ¶±à ·Âà ¶½à · à ¶¸à ·Âà ¶ºà ·Â(Nelu Meeya) in Sinhalese.
The Nillu rat is only found in Knuckles, Horton Plains, Nuwara Eliya, and Ohiya in the central highlands of Central and Uva provinces of Sri Lanka.
Head and body length is 16âÂÂ17 cm. Tail is 20âÂÂ22 cm. Grayish brown with a reddish tinge dorsally, darkest along back. Underparts gray grading into whitish. Chin and upper throat white. Tail blackish brown with fine dark hairs. Long, shiny black whiskers. Fur soft and long, up to 45mm in length in back. Feet covered with short hairs.