Web address:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/07/
100726094909.htm
Archaeologists Discover Biggest Rat That Ever Lived: Weight of About 6
Kilograms (Over 13 Lb)
enlarge
The skull of a black rat (right) compared with a fairly complete skull of one
of Timor's other extinct giant rats (left). The giant rat shown here isn't the
biggest of the extinct rats, which was around 25 per cent bigger again. The
black rat (Rattus rattus) is one of the world's most common rat species. It is
also known as the house, roof or ship rat and is found throughout Africa, Asia,
Australia, Europe and the Americas. A typical adult weighs about 150 grams. The
skull of the black rat shown here is 35 mm long. (Credit: Ken Aplin, CSIRO)
ScienceDaily (July 26, 2010) Archaeological research in East Timor has
unearthed the bones of the biggest rat that ever lived, with a body weight
around six kilograms.
The cave excavations also yielded a total of 13 species of rodents, 11 of which
are new to science. Eight of the rats weighed a kilogram or more.
"East Indonesia is a hot spot for rodent evolution. We want international
attention on conservation in the area," CSIRO's Dr Ken Aplin says.
"Rodents make up 40 per cent of mammalian diversity worldwide and are a key
element of ecosystems, important for processes like soil maintenance and seed
dispersal. Maintaining biodiversity among rats is just as important as
protecting whales or birds."
Carbon dating shows that the biggest rat that ever lived survived until around
1000 to 2000 years ago, along with most of the other Timorese rodents found
during the excavation. Only one of the smaller species found is known to
survive on Timor today.
"People have lived on the island of Timor for over 40,000 years and hunted and
ate rats throughout this period, yet extinctions did not occur until quite
recently," Dr Aplin says.
"We think this shows people used to live sustainably on Timor until around 1000
to 2000 years ago. This means extinctions aren't inevitable when people arrive
on an island. Large scale clearing of forest for agriculture probably caused
the extinctions, and this may have only been possible following the
introduction of metal tools."
Each of the islands of eastern Indonesia evolved it own unique collection of
rats. Dr Aplin has also found six new rat species in a cave on the island of
Flores. Some of these might still be living on Flores but they have evaded
detection by modern collectors and further surveys are urgently needed.
Timor has few native mammals, with bats and rodents making up the majority of
species. Most of Timor today is arid, transformed from the lush rainforests of
the past. But there is still room for imagination.
"Although less than 15 per cent of Timor's original forest cover remains, parts
of the island are still heavily forested, so who knows what might be out
there?" Dr Aplin says.
"During a recent field trip in East Timor, I found the remains of a freshly
dead rat which we knew about only from cave deposits."
Until Dr Aplin finds a larger one, today's biggest rats weigh around 2 kg and
live in rainforests in the Philippines and New Guinea.
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Story Source:
The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily
staff) from materials provided by CSIRO Australia.
Journal Reference:
1. Aplin et al. Quaternary Murid Rodents of Timor Part I: New Material of
Coryphomys buehleri Schaub, 1937, and Description of a Second Species of the
Genus. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 2010; 3411 DOI:
10.1206/692.1
Need to cite this story in your essay, paper, or report? Use one of the
following formats:
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CSIRO Australia (2010, July 26). Archaeologists discover biggest rat that ever
lived: Weight of about 6 kilograms (over 13 lb). ScienceDaily. Retrieved July
27, 2010, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2010/07/100726094909.htm
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
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