Giant cat-sized rats discovered in Papuan 'lost world'

 

Last updated at 11:23am on 17th December 2007 Comments

Giant rats, each as large as a cat, have been discovered in a 'lost world' of exotic animals and plants that scientists liken to the Garden of Eden.

The monster rodents dwarf another newly–found creature - a pygmy possum - now being documented as one of the world's smallest creatures that carry their young in a pouch.

“These are two animals that were totally unknown to science and we're absolutely thrilled to have discovered them,” said one of the explorers who ventured into the thick jungles of Indonesia's Papua.

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Rats alive! The giant Mallomys rodent from Papua is five times the size of his British cousins

 

And while it is not going to win any prizes for being beautiful and cuddly, the Mallomys rat is evidence that unknown creatures are still alive and well in a secret corner of a diminishing wildlife world.

The scientific team captured one of the huge rats when it paid frequent visits to their camp site, set up in the Foja Mountains in the Papuan jungle, an area first explored in 2005 and where, it was believed, no modern human had stepped before.

On that first visit, scientists discovered dozens of new plants, birds and animals and on their most recent second trip they were excited to find more plants, along with the giant rat species and the pygmy possums.

“It's comforting to know that there's a place on earth so isolated that it remains the absolute realm of wild nature,” Bruce Beehler, vice president of the US-based wildlife preservation group Conservation International, said today.

“We were pleased to see that this little piece of Eden remains as pristine and enchanting as it was when we first visited.”

The giant rat is about five times the size of a typical city rat and scuttled into the scientists' camp several times, showing no fear of humans.

As they travelled through the forest on this second visit, the scientific group heard the calls of birds they could not identify and were convinced there were many more creatures living in this unspoiled part of the world that had yet to be discovered.

But they did manage to film several spectacular birds and captured the courtship displays of the golden-fronted bowerbird and of the black icklebill bird of paradise.

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Miniature: The pygmy possum from Foja is thought to the world's smallest marsupial

 

The scientists are now planning a third expedition late in 2008 when they hope to survey the forests at the summit of the highest jungle peaks and the little-studied lower elevations. On that exploration they expect to find more new species of plants, butterflies, mammals and frogs.

Foja has been described as the "last frontier" of the world's unspoiled wildlife areas, where exotic creatures live without any threat from mankind, mainly because there are no roads or tracks and the nearest native villages are scores of miles away.

But scientists warn that the jungle is under threat from illegal loggers.

Environmental watchdog Greenpeace estimates that nearly five million acres of forest are disappearing in Indonesia every year – the fastest rate in the world.

So first if was the small rodent with big ears and now its the HUGE rodent...with normal ears

So first if was the small rodent with big ears and now its the HUGE rodent...with normal ears

 

Very perceptive! Do you want a cookie??:P

*does backflips*

 

Yes Please! I'm really hungry(hmmm....but my mood thing says I'm paraniod)!!!!!11

 

*does more backflips*

*does backflips*

 

Yes Please! I'm really hungry(hmmm....but my mood thing says I'm paraniod)!!!!!11

 

*does more backflips*

 

Well I'm afraid you're out of luck, because I've eaten them all!:P

*growls viciously and runs off to go take it all out on the cat*

 

Oh dear...poor cat...

 

*runs off to go nurse cat*

 

AHH!! The bloody thing's after me!!

 

*runs off*

 

Edit: 1000 posts!!!!!!!!! Yay!!! I made it, whooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!