This rice rat lives in open habitats of the Galápagos. Its known living population and records from other islands need to be described separately.
Its coat is long, soft, and dense. The back is yellow or copper-colored, while the underside is grayish yellow.
In a 1963 report, Brosset described rats then called Oryzomys bauri as numerous near the coast of Santa Fé, also known as Barrington Island. They were attracted to fish scraps left by fishermen. After dusk, he observed them moving around camps in search of food.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.