Rodent discovered in East Timor weighed the same as a small dog
The 2,000-year-old remains of the world’s largest rat have been discovered in a remote cave in East Timor. The rodent was three times as big as its modern cousins and weighed more than 13 lbs, about the same as a small dog. Australian archaeologists from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation found the bones of the giant rat alongside 11 new species of rat, eight of which weighed more than two lbs. Rats have recently become scarce on the island of East Timor, which lies north of Australia and east of Indonesia. The world’s largest living rats weigh about four lbs and live in the rainforests of the Philippines and New Guinea.