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Rodents of Unusual Size

Posted by michael on from the world's-largest-hamster-wheel dept.

lowy writes "The New York Times has a story (free registration, blah, blah) reporting that paleontologists are claiming they have a nearly complete skeleton of a 1500-pound distant relative of the guinea pig. Would Westley and Buttercup have made it through the Fire Swamp if the R.O.U.S's were this big?"

9 of 51 comments (clear)

  1. See also... by keesh · · Score: 5, Informative

    From the bbc... No registration required

  2. Or, this non-reg link by scootr1 · · Score: 4, Informative

    ..to the UK's Independent:

    link

  3. Straight from the horse-sized rodent's mouth by RobertB-DC · · Score: 3, Informative

    If you don't like registration, just search news.google.com with appropriate keywords, and Voila! Horse-sized Rodents!

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    Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
  4. Rodents of unusual size by jtev · · Score: 1, Informative

    Um, now I'm sure I'm going to get shouted down for this, but Guinea pigs aren't rodents, they are cavies, and closely related to Pachyderms, like Hippos and Elephants, in fact they are more closely related to horses than to mice.

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    That which is done from love exists beyond good and evil
    1. Re:Rodents of unusual size by Anonymous+Codger · · Score: 4, Informative

      "Guinea pigs aren't rodents, they are cavies"

      Just checked Britannica. A guinea pig is a cavy, and a cavy is a rodent "belonging to the family Caviidae (order Rodentia)".

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      No sig? Sigh...
    2. Re:Rodents of unusual size by barakn · · Score: 4, Informative
      Hippos aren't pachyderms. They are in the order Artiodactyla, which also has the pigs, deer, camelids, giraffes, bovines (cows, sheep, goats, buffalo, etc.), and the pronghorn antelope. The horse is in the order Perissodactyla, which also includes tapirs and rhinos. Elephants are in their own order, Proboscidea. The closest living relative of the elephant is probably (debated by some) the hyrax (order Hyracoidea), a small guinea pig-like animal that you probably confused with the guinea pig. Also distantly related to the elephant is the order Sirenia, manatees and dugongs.

      Thanks for trying to confuse the issue. Who the hell modded you informative?

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      "I'm so moist I'm sticking to the leather." -Kermit the Frog on The Late Late Show
    3. Re:Rodents of unusual size by meiocyte · · Score: 2, Informative

      Is the guinea-pig a rodent?

      No, the guinea-pig is not a rodent.

      It seems that Nature is really into guinea-pigs!
      This is a better writeup than the New York Times article, by the way. Although it does refer to them as rodents.

      While I'm whoring, this page ought to settle some of the phylogenetic fracas here.

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      The thing in the box has no place in the language-game at all; not even as a something; for the box might even be empty.
  5. Lagomorphs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Thing you learn from Sam & Max...

  6. Re:Princess bride references ++; by barakn · · Score: 3, Informative

    Nope. Rabbits/hares and pikas comprise the order Lagomorpha, but they occupy separate families, the Leporidae and the Ochotonidae.

    --
    "I'm so moist I'm sticking to the leather." -Kermit the Frog on The Late Late Show