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Fossil of history`s largest known rodent discovered
Washington, Sept 18: It would be an exterminator`s worst nightmare: (700-kilogram) rodent with a voracious appetite and big teeth.
Washington, Sept 18: It would be an exterminator's worst nightmare: (700-kilogram) rodent with a voracious appetite and big teeth.
Resembling a guinea pig grown to the size of a buffalo, the animal lived millions of years ago in a South American swamp and is thought to be history's biggest rodent, researchers say this week in the journal ‘Science’.
"Imagine a weird guinea pig, but huge, with a long tail for balancing on its hind legs and continuously growing teeth," said Marcelo R Sanchez-Villagra of the University of Tubingen in Germany. He is the first author of the study.
The formal name of the rodent is Phoberomys Pattersoni. The last term is in honor of Brian Patterson, a Harvard professor who led a fossil-collection expedition to Venezuela in the 1970s. Informally, the skeleton is called Goya.
It was unearthed in a semidesert area of Venezuela, about 400 kilometers west of Caracas.
Sanchez-Villagra said that when Goya lived, some 6 million to 8 million years ago, the area was a lush paradise for the large plant eater.
"At the time it was forested and swampy with a big river and a lot of vegetation," he said.
The giant rodent grazed on grasses, which he must have eaten in large amounts to support his great size. Goya had fur, a smooth head with small ears and eyes, and that large tail that enabled it to balance on two hind legs to watch for predators, said Sanchez-Villagra.
And there were a lot of meat eaters who probably preyed on Goya, he said.
Bureau Report
"Imagine a weird guinea pig, but huge, with a long tail for balancing on its hind legs and continuously growing teeth," said Marcelo R Sanchez-Villagra of the University of Tubingen in Germany. He is the first author of the study.
The formal name of the rodent is Phoberomys Pattersoni. The last term is in honor of Brian Patterson, a Harvard professor who led a fossil-collection expedition to Venezuela in the 1970s. Informally, the skeleton is called Goya.
It was unearthed in a semidesert area of Venezuela, about 400 kilometers west of Caracas.
Sanchez-Villagra said that when Goya lived, some 6 million to 8 million years ago, the area was a lush paradise for the large plant eater.
"At the time it was forested and swampy with a big river and a lot of vegetation," he said.
The giant rodent grazed on grasses, which he must have eaten in large amounts to support his great size. Goya had fur, a smooth head with small ears and eyes, and that large tail that enabled it to balance on two hind legs to watch for predators, said Sanchez-Villagra.
And there were a lot of meat eaters who probably preyed on Goya, he said.
Bureau Report