Giant Rat Of Sumatra Actually Found!
Well, ok, it wasn't actually found in Sumatra, but it was in Indonesia. A gigantic rat, five times the size of a typical city (Norway) rat, the large rodent is also completely unafraid of humans. Which is not really surprising. A rat that big would send most humans screaming!
Scientists from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences and CI discovered dozens of new plants and animals on their first trip to the region, described as a "Lost World," in late 2005.
The giant rat is about five times the size of a typical city rat, Kristofer Helgen, a scientist with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, said in the statement.
"With no fear of humans, it apparently came into the camp several times during the trip," he said.
Which probably emptied out the camp rather quickly. I'm not exactly sure if this is a new species, however. There have been other sightings of ginormous rats, after all. Florida has its share, too. Let's not even get started on Washington, DC.
UPDATE: The Daily Mail has (shudder) pictures. That's a lot of rat.
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And Still I Persist » Blog Archive » Discovered: the Giant Rat of Sumatra! — December 17, 2007 @ 12:21 pm
By NortonPete, December 17, 2007 @ 11:35 am
More proof of Thor Heyedahl’s Kon-Tiki expedition.
Evidently a South American Capybara, the worlds largest rodent, sailed to Indonesia and discovered the “Lost World”.
By sam, December 17, 2007 @ 3:13 pm
“Rodents of Unusual Size”, probably found in a “fire swamp” by someone named Wesley or Buttercup.