Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Sounds like it escaped from New York......

..... a rat nine feet long and four feet high?

Scientists Find Remains of 1-Ton Rat

The giant rat's skull, which measures an impressive 21 inches in diameter was found by Andrés Rinderknecht and Ernesto Blanco, two scientists from Montevideo, Uruguay.

The two paleontologists stumbled upon the fossilized remains in a broken boulder in San Jose along the coast of Uruguay.

By looking at the size ratios of the skulls and bodies of existing rodents, scientists determined the bodyweight of the rodent must have approached one ton, making it the world's largest rodent to have been discovered to date.

The relatively small size of its teeth, however, suggests it fed mainly upon soft vegetables and fruit.

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