Fanged Frog and Giant Rat Species Discovered In New Guinea
LONDON, England (CNN) — Scientists have discovered a new species of giant rat in a remote rainforest in Papua New Guinea.
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.
RELATED Discovery:
Fanged Frog, Giant Woolly Rat Among 40 New Species Found in
Associated Content – Sept 7, 2009 Just in time for Halloween, scientists have announced the discovery of a vampire frog, or rather a fanged frog indigenous to the Mount Bosavi rainforest
[The animal, a tree rat the size of a domestic cat!]
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.
In 2007, a similar species of giant rat was found in Foja Mountains in Papua New Guinea’s Mamberamo Basin.
The team of scientists which made the new discovery included experts on bats, birds, mammals and reptiles found a number of new species. Read more here
The Bosavi Woolly Rat will make its TV debut on 22 September, as part of the The Lost Land of the Volcano series, which kicks off on BBC One tomorrow at 21:00 BST. The BBC has further details on the find, plus footage of the Bosavi Woolly Rat, right here.
Bosavi woolly rat picture in The Register.
Bosavi woolly rat video at BBC.
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Lost world of fanged frogs and giant rats discovered in Papua New …
Sept 7, 2009 … Team of scientists find more than 40 previously unidentified species in remote volcanic crater.____________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Posted by: BBparks
SOURCES: Associated Content, BBC and CNN News
Tags: bosavi woolly rat, fanged frog, fanged frog discovered, large rat discovered
November 22nd, 2009 at 12:12 pm
[...] Goonch Catfish aka River Monsters..Photos. They feed on corpses of funerals in India rivers and now they claim these fish have moved on to other waters and have been snatching swimmers and taking them off to munch on. …This Blog [...]