The BBC reports that a new giant rat, amongst other species, has been discovered in Papua New Guinea.
The rat, which has no fear of humans, measures 82cm [over 32 inches] long, placing it among the largest species of rat known anywhere in the world.
The creature, which has not yet been formally described, was discovered by an expedition team filming the BBC programme Lost Land of the Volcano.
It is one of a number of exotic animals found by the expedition team.
Like the other exotic species, the rat is believed to live within the Mount Bosavi crater, and nowhere else.
"This is one of the world's largest rats. It is a true rat, the same kind you find in the city sewers," says Dr Kristofer Helgen, a mammalogist based at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History who accompanied the BBC expedition team.
Initially, the giant rat was first captured on film by an infrared camera trap, which BBC wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan set up in the forest on the slopes of the volcano.
The expedition team from the BBC Natural History Unit recorded the rat rummaging around on the forest floor, and were awed by its size.
Immediately, they suspected it could be a species never before recorded by science, but they needed to see a live animal to be sure.
Then trackers accompanying the team managed to trap a live specimen.
"I had a cat and it was about the same size as this rat," says Buchanan.
The trapped rat measured 82cm [over 32 inches] in length from its nose to its tail, and weighed approximately 1.5kg [about 3.3 pounds].
It had a silver-brown coat of thick long fur, which the scientists who examined it believe may help it survive the wet and cold conditions that can occur within the high volcano crater. The location where the rat was discovered lies at an elevation of over 1,000m [over 3,250 feet].
Initial investigations suggest the rat belongs to the genus Mallomys, which contains a handful of other out-sized species.
It has provisionally been called the Bosavi woolly rat, while its scientific name has yet to be agreed.
There's more at the link, including a video clip of the newly-discovered rat.
I can't help wondering how my two cats (formerly living with me, now with a friend in Ontario, CA) would react to a rat the same size as themselves! Mice and small creatures were dead meat, but something this large might make them sit back, look at me, and meow, "You're on your own, buster!"
Peter
Papua New Guinea and not Sumatra? Too bad.
ReplyDeleteI for one take these rodents of unusual size to be a sign of the coming apocralypse.
ReplyDeleteJim
R.O.U.S.'s? Ye gods and little fishes, did they find the fire swamp, too?
ReplyDeleteWait, volcanic crater. Uh-huh.
Cliffs of Insanity? Crater edge?
In the video, the thing was practically tame. Downright cute in fact. Reminded me a lot of:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3cw7sZRs7g
A Cat's reaction? We used to keep hens (for the eggs) but had cats as well. The hens were sometimes let out for a run round the garden. You could almost see the cat's brain working - it's a bird, cats catch birds; crouch down and stalk, closer, closer. It seems awfully large and that beak looks very sharp, perhaps I'll find something else to do.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, back when I lived in PNG I had a cat who dissappeared one night. Wonder if one of these giant rats got him...
ReplyDelete-Joe ex PNG
Gotta love how they're holding it by the tail to keep it from running off, and it doesn't even care, totally unphazed even when they pet it.
ReplyDeleteI had a tame rat when I was a kid, fun pet, it's favorite place was crawling around inside my shirt(peeking out at various places and going back in), problem was it eventually got territorial and aggressive, it bit mom's boyfriend, and we had to put it down.