Are you afraid of rodents? by Barbora Misakova

After reading this article probably many women and girls will be very happy and thankful they were not living 4 millions year ago. The reason is apparent & biggest living rodents ever! These days brand new discovery was achieved when Uruguayan scientists said they found fossil of the biggest rodent ever found! If you still don't know how exactly you should imagine biggest rodent just try to close your eyes and try to think about more than 8 feet long animal which weight is between 1700 and 3000 pounds and its skull is like 20 inches long. Come and meet Josephoartigasia monesi. While British newspapers are describing this "little" beast as a mouse or a rat, scientists claim this animal was more related to a guinea pig. This incredible finding comes from 1987 when Aregentine fossil collector Sergio Viera found it near the capital of Montevideo and donated this skull to Uruguay's National History and Anthropology Museum. The reason why this colossal fossil came flood-lighted now was that it was hidden in a box at the museum for many years. Andres Rinderknecht, curator of museum, rediscovered this fossil and asked for the help whit studying it his fellow Ernesto Blanco. Rinderknecht said: "This investigation began about a year and a half ago but it's still not complete." What they know for sure is that this animal, as its teeth showed, was eating aquatic plants and lived on the shores of rivers or near the water in woodland areas. Scientist are not working only with fossils but plenty of them are still doing research in distant parts of the world where are looking for some undiscovered living animals & ancestors of these days' beasts. But there is no doubt about inspiration for other scientist and biologists which this great fossil discovery brought because most of them still think that it's an important insight into the fauna of the prehistoric continent of South America.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080116/ap_on_sc/giant_rodent;_ylt=AovrWC3rUd69VAnZST493K6s0NUE

by Barbora Misakova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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