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Old September 18, 2003, 16:24   #1
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Fossil Shows Rodent Was Size of Buffalo


9 minutes ago
By PAUL RECER, AP Science Writer

WASHINGTON - A rodent the size of a buffalo? Researchers say they have found fossils for a 1,545-pound giant that thrived millions of years ago in a swampy South American forest.

"Imagine a weird guinea pig, but huge, with a long tail for balancing on its hind legs and continuously growing teeth," said Marcelo R. Sanchez-Villagra of the University of Tubingen in Germany, the first author of a study appearing this week in Science.

The formal name of the rodent is Phoberomys pattersoni. The last term is in honor of Brian Patterson, a Harvard professor who led a fossil-collection expedition to Venezuela in the 1970s. Informally, the skeleton is called Goya.

Researchers found the fossils in a semidesert area of Venezuela, about 250 miles west of Caracas.

When Goya lived there, some 6 million to 8 million years ago, the area was a lush paradise for a large plant eater.

"At the time it was forested and swampy with a big river and a lot of vegetation," said Sanchez-Villagra.

The giant rodent grazed on grasses, which he must have eaten in large amounts to support his great size. Goya had fur, a smooth head with small ears and eyes, and a large tail that enabled it to balance on two hind legs to watch for predators, said Sanchez-Villagra.

And there were a lot predators to worry about, he said.

"We know that there were crocodiles in the same location where we found this animal," said Sanchez-Villagra. "They were some of the largest crocs ever — more than 10 meters (33 feet) long."

Goya also had to worry about a large carnivore called the marsupial cat, and huge flesh-eating birds called phorracoids, he said.

Phoberomys pattersoni lived during a time when South America was isolated from the rest of the world. The isthmus of Panama had not linked the two Americas, and the southern animals evolved independently of those on the other continents.

That changed about 3 million years ago. The shifting land masses became joined at what is now Panama and animals from the two Americas began to mix. That may have spelled the demise of Goya, although it remains a mystery exactly why the animal went extinct, Sanchez-Villagra said.

"Many animals from North America made it to South America and many from the south went north," he said. "When that happened, many of the animals from South America became extinct because of competition."

In an analysis of the Sanchez-Villagra study, R. McNeill Alexander of the University of Leeds, England, wrote in Science that the large rodent may have died out because it simply couldn't escape predators.

Alexander said most rodents are small enough to hide in the ground when threatened, but Phoberomys pattersoni was too large to burrow. As do most large animals, it would have to depend on running to escape a predator. Alexander said that suggests this question: "Would large rodents generally be too slow to be successful?"

Sanchez-Villagra said Goya's skeleton, particularly the leg bones, suggests that it walked differently from most modern rodents, such as its close cousin the guinea pig. Mice, rats and guinea pigs scamper along in a crouched position, with legs bent at the knee and elbow.

Because of Goya's mass, however, it had to stand straight, more like a sheep than a mouse.

As a result, Alexander wrote in Science, "Seen from a distance, it would have looked much more like a buffalo than like a scaled-up guinea pig."

An analysis of Goya's teeth show they were ideally adapted for eating grasses. Sanchez-Villagra said chewing tough grasses can eventually wear out the teeth. But in Goya, the teeth were constantly growing so they remained at the length needed to grind up grass.

Sanchez-Villagra said the closest living relative to Phoberomys pattersoni is probably the pacarana, a slow-moving rodent that can grow to 33 pounds and lives in the tropical forest of the western Amazon River basin. It is considered rare.

The largest living rodent is another South American animal, the capybara, which can weigh up to 110 pounds. The most common rodents are mice, which weigh one to two ounces, and rats, which can weigh up to 10 ounces or more. The rodent clan also includes squirrels, beavers and prairie dogs.
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Old September 18, 2003, 16:25   #2
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The capabara is pretty darn big.
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Old September 18, 2003, 16:28   #3
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That's an even bigger rat than Ming !
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Old September 18, 2003, 16:55   #4
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ooohh ****!
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Old September 18, 2003, 16:57   #5
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Impossible... the world is only 6000 years old! IT'S SATAN'S DOING!
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Old September 18, 2003, 16:58   #6
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The thought of a Goya probably would put a big grin on Richard Gere's face
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Old September 18, 2003, 17:09   #7
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Oh, ****ing hell, Japher, I did NOT need that thought. Thanks!



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Old September 18, 2003, 17:17   #8
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did richard gere molest mice or soemthing?
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Old September 18, 2003, 17:24   #9
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Gerbil, up the butt, so the story goes. Could be an Urban Legend.

To top it off, I just saw a South Park episode last night that involved Mr. Garrison sticking a rodent up the butt of his teacher's assistant, "Mr. Slave."

uke:

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Old September 18, 2003, 17:26   #10
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heheh I was watching that too... a great episode... but not better than the Krazy Crips episode.
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Old September 18, 2003, 17:40   #11
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This sort of story always makes me laugh, its only the same as saying of Dinosaurs: 'Reptile/Bird (take your pick) the size of a bus!!!'

No?

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Old September 18, 2003, 17:43   #12
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They should just run a story that says "In Prehistoric Times Things Were Bigger!" and be done with it...
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Old September 18, 2003, 17:44   #13
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There were also once some flightless birds in South America that were up to 9 feet tall. Yeah, well of course they were flightless.
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Old September 18, 2003, 17:46   #14
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Just more examples on how far behind the rest of the world media always seems to be. Next thing you know they will discover the internet
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Old September 19, 2003, 12:12   #15
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Gerbil, up the butt, so the story goes. Could be an Urban Legend.
Could be an urban legend? Ya think?

The story is obviously absurd on many levels, but I guess the titillation factor is sufficiently high to keep the thing alive. A shame for Richard Gere, who did nothing that I know of to earn having such a ridiculous story attached to him.
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Old September 19, 2003, 12:20   #16
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I remember reading about Gere going to a hospital with a gerbil stuck up his ass. It was in a newspaper.

On another note the BBC recently had a great article about Giant Ice Age marsupials in Australia. Most of them were killed as soon as humans reached Australia but for a time there was a Marsupial the size of a Rhino running around the (then wetter) outback as well as a marsupial which looked a lot like a tiger.
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Old September 19, 2003, 12:58   #17
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Have they found any really big running wheels in the vicinity yet?
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Old September 19, 2003, 14:27   #18
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You don't have to go back 1000s of years to find rats that size. Just cruise around an alley on the south side of CHICAGO. Some are so large they feed on dogs and small children.
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Old September 19, 2003, 14:36   #19
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Apparently they let some of the larger rats act



SHUT THE FVCK UP DONNIE!
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Old September 19, 2003, 14:36   #20
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Rah: Yes, but those rats are named Giodo and speak with an Italian accent.
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Old September 19, 2003, 18:51   #21
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I just saw a South Park episode last night that involved Mr. Garrison sticking a rodent up the butt of his teacher's assistant, "Mr. Slave."
The rodent's name is Lemmiwinks! King of the Gerbils!
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Old September 19, 2003, 19:22   #22
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What the hell does a gerbil the size of a city eat to survive???
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Old September 19, 2003, 19:31   #23
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And is it really spicy, or just spicy enough to pass for buffalo?
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Old September 19, 2003, 19:33   #24
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Just imagine the male organ of that animal
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Old September 19, 2003, 19:41   #25
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I was rushing around yesterday and today like my hair was on fire.
Hope you uhad an excellent birthday.
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Old September 19, 2003, 20:21   #26
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I think that makes about as much sense as primates the size of mice, which did evolve. Therefore, the claim of a man-sized rodent does makes sense. On the other hand, the first skeleton was never claimed to have been discovered until today. I'm giving this a 50% chance of it being real.
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Old September 20, 2003, 00:58   #27
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Originally posted by SlowwHand
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I was rushing around yesterday and today like my hair was on fire.
Hope you uhad an excellent birthday.
Haha, its alright. The 18th was my birthday, though I got an early present the day before with Wesley Clark announcing his candidacy.

Well, that and Pulp Fiction and Usual Suspects on DVD
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Old September 20, 2003, 02:51   #28
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The rodent's name is Lemmiwinks! King of the Gerbils!
You're goddamn right it is! The lack of respect for rodent royalty around here is really unbelievable. Lemmiwinks was the first gerbil to ever complete the perilous journey out of a gay man's ass and you ****s can't even remember his name.
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Old September 20, 2003, 03:17   #29
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I used to have some guinea pigs as pets when I was little. Then I got a weiner dog and it ate the guinea pigs. It wasn't on purpose, they had a hiding place. We used to knock on the door before letting the dog out, and the guinea pigs would run and hide where they couldn't get caught. But my dog decided he would just wait in the grass for hours until the guineas thought it was safe to come out. Then he ate them. My dog is great.
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