# 40 new species discovered, including a Rodent of Unusual Size (edited title) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 7, 2009, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-new-species-discovered-including-a-rodent-of-unusual-size-edited-title/509152 "2009-09-07T09:31:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-new-species-discovered-including-a-rodent-of-unusual-size-edited-title/509152/1 "2009-09-07T09:31:50Z")
… in a remote volacano crater in [Papua New Guinea](http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8234000/8234539.stm). \*A host of weird and wonderful animals has been discovered by a BBC expedition which ventured deep into some of the world’s most remote rainforest. The team can’t be sure until scientists have had a chance to formally evaluate and describe the animals found, but they suspect they may have discovered up to 40 new species, including approximately 16 species of frog, one species of gecko, at least three new species of fish, 20 species of insect and spider and one new species of bat. \* ---
**Author:** ![Laudenum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Laudenum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laudenum)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-new-species-discovered-including-a-rodent-of-unusual-size-edited-title/509152/2 "2009-09-07T12:24:42Z")
That rat could eat a cat ---
**Author:** ![foxymoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d26b3c/32.png) [@foxymoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foxymoron)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-new-species-discovered-including-a-rodent-of-unusual-size-edited-title/509152/3 "2009-09-07T12:27:21Z")
That is so exciting! I hope the program mentioned will air or be available in the U.S. soon. Thanks for sharing this. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-new-species-discovered-including-a-rodent-of-unusual-size-edited-title/509152/4 "2009-09-07T14:57:17Z")
Very cool. New species of mammals - now that’s a big deal. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-new-species-discovered-including-a-rodent-of-unusual-size-edited-title/509152/5 "2009-09-07T14:59:04Z")
Looking forward to seeing this prog tomorrow on BBC. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-new-species-discovered-including-a-rodent-of-unusual-size-edited-title/509152/6 "2009-09-07T16:45:12Z")
Does anyone else think the giant rat strongly resembles the R.O.U.S. from _The Princess Bride_? Of course, it _is_ a rodent of unusual size. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-new-species-discovered-including-a-rodent-of-unusual-size-edited-title/509152/7 "2009-09-07T18:02:08Z")
Quick! Someone alert Sherlock Holmes! ---
**Author:** ![Reepicheep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@Reepicheep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reepicheep)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-new-species-discovered-including-a-rodent-of-unusual-size-edited-title/509152/8 "2009-09-07T18:13:35Z")
> [@Laudenum](#): > > That rat could eat a cat ROUS? ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-new-species-discovered-including-a-rodent-of-unusual-size-edited-title/509152/9 "2009-09-07T18:48:32Z")
Anybody know when us 'Mericans can watch this? ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-new-species-discovered-including-a-rodent-of-unusual-size-edited-title/509152/10 "2009-09-08T01:31:34Z")
[Giant Rat](http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/09/07/giant.rat.papua/index.html) > [@](#): > > Measuring 82 centimeters (32.2 inches) from nose to tail and weighing around 1.5 kilograms (3.3 pounds), the species is thought to be one of the largest rats ever to be found. > > The discovery was made by a team from the BBC Natural History Unit inside the crater of Mount Bosavi – an extinct volcano in the Southern Highlands province of Papua New Guinea. > > “This is one of the world’s largest rats. It’s a true rat, the same kind you find in the city sewers,” said Kristofer Helgen, a biologist from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, who was part of the expedition team. > > Initial examinations of the rat – provisionally named the Bosavi woolly rat – suggest that it belongs to the Mallomys – a genus of rodents in the muridae family which are the largest living species of rodent. ’ StG ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-new-species-discovered-including-a-rodent-of-unusual-size-edited-title/509152/11 "2009-09-08T01:36:22Z")
It migrated there from Sumatra, of course! Speaking of [Rodents Of Unusual Size](http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/09/photogalleries/giantrodent/)…! By the way, minor error in the linked article. It’s not in the genus that is the “world’s largest species of living rodent” – make that last word “myomorph” and it’d be correct. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-new-species-discovered-including-a-rodent-of-unusual-size-edited-title/509152/12 "2009-09-08T02:27:11Z")
Okay, I’ll say it. Rodents of unusual size? I still don’t believe they exist. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-new-species-discovered-including-a-rodent-of-unusual-size-edited-title/509152/13 "2009-09-08T02:44:41Z")
I’ve always wanted to try eating a nutria. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-new-species-discovered-including-a-rodent-of-unusual-size-edited-title/509152/14 "2009-09-08T02:47:55Z")
> [@tr0psn4j](#): > > I’ve always wanted to try eating a nutria. Sounds nutriicious. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-new-species-discovered-including-a-rodent-of-unusual-size-edited-title/509152/15 "2009-09-08T02:58:19Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > It migrated there from Sumatra, of course! I’m waiting for them to capture a Sumatran rat-monkey. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-new-species-discovered-including-a-rodent-of-unusual-size-edited-title/509152/16 "2009-09-08T03:02:51Z")
We ought to import them to the US to see if they make good pets. If they don’t work out, we can just flush them into the sewers. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-new-species-discovered-including-a-rodent-of-unusual-size-edited-title/509152/17 "2009-09-08T03:04:34Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > “world’s largest species of living rodent” …would be the [capybara](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capybara), described by our own Unca Cecil as “110 lb of pure ugly.” They taste like pork, though. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-new-species-discovered-including-a-rodent-of-unusual-size-edited-title/509152/18 "2009-09-08T03:10:44Z")
They smell quite bad too. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-new-species-discovered-including-a-rodent-of-unusual-size-edited-title/509152/19 "2009-09-08T03:20:11Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > Okay, I’ll say it. Rodents of unusual size? I still don’t believe they exist. [And you would be wrong.](http://img246.imageshack.us/i/ratno.jpg/) ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-new-species-discovered-including-a-rodent-of-unusual-size-edited-title/509152/20 "2009-09-08T03:36:41Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > …would be the [capybara](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capybara), described by our own Unca Cecil as “110 lb of pure ugly.” They taste like pork, though. Theologically, though, they taste like fish. [close obscure reference] Tris [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-new-species-discovered-including-a-rodent-of-unusual-size-edited-title/509152.md?page=2)