Gigantic Rats Discovered In Indonesia

[polter 0]

Scientists exploring a remote mountain range in the Indonesian jungle have discovered what they believe to be two previously undocumented mammals. It is unusual for today's scientists to unearth unknown species of mammals, and the findings underscore the incredible biodiversity of Indonesia's rainforest. According to scientists, the Mallomys giant rat, which is approximately five times the size of a typical city rat, showed no fear of humans and entered their camp on multiple occasions.

Imagine these creature living inside your house. Man, i shiver at the thought cos I hate rodents..brr..

[sonesay 7]

Yeah they are something to be afraid of. The size of them is so huge, I'd like to see how they would react to a cat and if they cat will even have the nerves to challenge it lol. They are seriously big. Although the guy I saw on the news this morning holding it was not too scared of getting bitten. I dont even know if they tested them out for any diseases yet. If they were threaten I'm sure they could put up some kind of fight.

[calwolf 0]

Not too surprising though. There's likely quite a few mammals still undiscovered. A new species of ungulate (antelope, in this case) was discovered just a few years ago, and I bet it's way bigger than that rat. Indonesia has been one of the "busiest" places in the world for the discovery and description of just about all kinds of species (plants, invertebrates, vertebrates, etc) since it's relatively unknown (by scientists, anyway) and a great hotbed of biodiversity, since it's tropical and has a wide range of elevations, along with a lot of islands (which promote speciation, according to Dr. Darwin).

[cangor 0]

Wow, that's really cool. I wish there were some pictures I could check out. It's amazing what we don't know about the animals out there. Here's a like to the original article I found...
Article Link
Also, there's another article with a video here
Another Article
That one has a video which is pretty cool, so check it out.

[lemonwonder 0]

Yeah its a shame they are cutting down the rainforests because thats where tonnes of new creatures are. Something like 20 species go extinct every day in the rainforest... EVERY DAY!In wouldnt like 1 of these rats... yukkK!

[craz 0]

Its good that I can enjoy home without rats..I feel bad for the people that live there.I wonder what they are doing over there to stop it. I mean they eat crawl in your cabinets and run around eating stuff and opening things with their teeth. They are annoying to have. But some of them can actually be cute

Edited December 20, 2007 by craz (see edit history)

[cangor 0]

Why does everyone hate rats so much? I think they're cute and furry, and maybe just misunderstood. Say, does anyone know if there are any larger pictures? I want to put it as my desktop or something.

 

^ That's the best image I've found.

Edited December 20, 2007 by cangor (see edit history)

[Saint_Michael 3]

cangor your not paying attention to your history, does the black plague of the 12th-13th century ring a bell? On top of that rats are known to carry some nasty diseases, but I would die of a heart attack if I woke up to see that crawling on me. Of course Giant rabbits are here as well

 

 

Now that is freaking scary right there , but still a giant bunny is cuter then a giant rat thats for sure.

[anwiii 17]

haha you find some really odd stuff sometimes. i couldn't stop laughin' when i saw that rabbit picture....but seriously...i don't know if i would be afraid to pet that thing or not.as far as the rats in indonesia, i would have liked a link to the article and some pictures. that's really freaky. i don't like rats at ALL! but i did like the movie willard

[strange-garden 0]

They don't have big teeth though, right?I think they're adorable. I want one. Remember when those wollemi pine things were discovered? The trees dinosaurs used to eat? I have two of those! I am using one as a christmas treet right now! The other one is a lot smaller and is outside in the cold. I would rather be outside then be covered in tinsil and candy caines...Oh wait...

[Lyon2 0]

I hate rats and those kind of animals in general.If indonesia is proud of having such animals, that is fine by me, just keep them out of Europe if you know what i mean, we do not like small or big rats at all.

[Liam_CF 0]

Man, they must be huge. Would be a problem to be get rid off.

[polter 0]

Forget those rats..let's worry about the rats that has infested our government systems, values and beliefs.

[Forbez 0]

cangor your not paying attention to your history, does the black plague of the 12th-13th century ring a bell? On top of that rats are known to carry some nasty diseases, but I would die of a heart attack if I woke up to see that crawling on me. Of course Giant rabbits are here as well

 

 

Now that is freaking scary right there , but still a giant bunny is cuter then a giant rat thats for sure.

Okay, now thats just stupidly big.

 

 

Gaint rates, not so surpised. City rats can grow pretty big. Due to evolution, those which are bigger need more food and then die cause of lack of food and getting hit by cars and killed off by extrminators.

[cangor 0]

Saint_Michael: The black plague was not carried by rats, it was carried by fleas which infected the rats, and it was only the special variety of black rat that carried the flea. One of the reasons we don't see big cases of the plague in recent history is because the brown rats basically kicked out the black rats, and brown rats don't carry fleas. Granted, rats can still carry disease, but so can any other type of animal, like dogs and cats and other animals that we keep as pets. That's why we don't keep feral dogs and cats as pets. Rats, however, still make good pets and they're not as big and all-consuming as dogs.