Image Credit: AFP/GUSTAVO LECUONA
Via Yahoo News:
PARIS (AFP) – Fossil hunters have uncovered the greatest rodent that ever lived — a one-tonne behemoth that bestrode the swamplands of South America some four million years ago.
The newly-identified species is the greatest-known member of the order Rodentia and by comparison makes the biggest rodent alive today, the 60-kilo (132-pound) capybara, look like a pygmy shrew.
The skull of the extraordinary beast was found in a broken boulder on Kiyu Beach on the coast of Uruguay’s River Plate region, palaeontologists reported in a study on Wednesday.
Measuring a whopping 53 centimetres (21 inches), the skull has massive incisors several centimetres long.
Guess the Princess Bride wasn’t all fairy tales! Of course, the largest rodent of unusual size roaming the planet currently is the Capybara – I wonder what it is about the South American rainforest….
[…] Rodent of Unusual Size – A giant rodent fossil is unearthed, the Princess Bride, and the Capybara – Link to Entry […]
my god.. that is a huge rodent. i have two guinea pigs and complain about their poop..imagine this? Haha. I wouldn’t be able to find a cage big enough for him!! But he is a cutie. I wish they could mate them and create more then sell them as pets. I’d love to have one. I’ll be walking it down the neighborhood and everyone would be like..”what kind of dog is THAT?!?” LOL. so cute. wow.. im so shocked at the size.. awesome.