Extinct Rodents Of Unusual Size Discovered In Timor

Plants and Animals





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Dr Julien Louys compares the jawbone of one of the giant extinct rats he has discovered with one from a modern rat. Stuart Hay, ANU

For tens of thousands of years, Timor was populated by giant rats, with seven extinct species recently discovered. Among these is the largest rat species every known, which only became extinct about a thousand years ago.