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Eeek! A Humongous Rat!
Imagine a rat the size of a car. Scientists in Uruguay have uncovered evidence that the giant rodent once existed. They dug up fossils that are four million years old. They look like rodent bones, only they are really, really huge. The rodent was closer to a porcupine than a mouse in shape, but much bigger. It weighed up to 3,000 pounds! It was over 8 feet long and its skull was 20 inches long.
Scientists found the rodent bones in 1987, in a place that has a lot of fossils. The fossils were put in a box in a museum and forgotten until recently. A researcher took a look and realized that the rodent's skull was bigger than a cow's.
The teeth show that the animal ate plants that grow in the water. It didn't have a tail either. It lived when saber toothed tigers roamed the jungle, and it might have been food for the giant cats.
There aren't any rodents that size running around today. The world's largest rodent, the capybara, which looks like a giant guinea pig, weighs about 100 pounds. The closest living animal to the ancient rodent is the pacarana. It has sharp claws and weighs 33 pounds. The pacarana lives near the Andes Mountains. It's endangered because people think it's delicious to eat.
I'm Adelbert and that's what happened in Science this week!
Test your savvy on this radical rat in Just the Facts.
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