Slashdot Mirror
Giant Fossil Rodent Discovered
conlaw writes "According a report in today's National Geographic News, scientists in Uruguay have confirmed that a skeleton found by an amateur paleontologist is that of the largest known rodent. Based on the 21-inch-long skull, the scientists have concluded that the creature, who lived between 2 and 4 million years ago, was about the size of a full-grown bull, weighing in at slightly over a ton. Imagine encountering one of these guys in your cozy little cave!"
I don't think they exist.
In Pliocene-era Russia giant rodents unearth you!
That's Richard Stallman. Close though.
I for one welcome our currently fossilized giant rat overlords.
~
The Ravenous Giant Rodent of Earth often makes a good meal for visiting tourists.
(This entry may need to be updated in the next edition.)
the scientists have concluded that the creature, who lived between 2 and 4 million years ago, was about the size of a full-grown bull, weighing in at slightly over a ton.
inconceivable!
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
Well, step aside my friend
I've been doing it for years
I say, sit on down, open your eyes
And open up your ears
Say
Put a tree in your butt
Put a bumblebee in your butt
Put a clock in your butt
Put a big rock in your butt
Put some fleas in your butt
Start to sneeze in your butt
Put a tin can in your butt
Put a little tiny man in your butt
Put a light in your butt
Make it bright in your butt
Put a TV in your butt
Put me in your butt
Everybody say
I, hey, that's, man, I ain't putting no trees in nobody's butt,
no bees in nobody's butt, putting nothing--
You must be out your mind, man,
y'all get paid for doing this?
Cause y'all gotta get some kind of money
Cause this don't sound like the kind of--
I'd rather golf, to be perfectly honest,
than put somethin in somebody's butt
to be truthful
Well step aside my friend and let me
show you how you do it
When big bad E just rock rock to it
Put a metal case in your butt
Put her face in your butt
Put a frown in your butt
Put a clown in your butt
Sit on down in your butt
Put a boat in your butt
Put a moat in your butt
Put a mink coat in your butt
Put everything in your butt
Just start to sing about your butt
Feels real good
OK, ya gotta love RS, so this is just good natured teasing:
1.Still waiting for giant rodent's vapor OS 2. Emacs keyboard layout based on ancient rodent thinking patterns
3. Beady little black eyes
4. Once taken seriously, now just an interesting historical topic
5. Same ability to take input from others
6. Upstaged by superior competitors
7. HAIRY!!
8. Evolutionary dead-end
9. Makes women jump on a chair
AND FINALLY.....
10. Both MIT graduates !!
Honestly, some of us are really tired of the endless coverage of the US election primaries. Especially the Republicans of which you speak...
Three Squirrels
The same thing we do every night, Pinky, try to take over the world!
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
Are these related to the rodents of unusual sweetness??!
...theo other giant rats, such as Amblyrhiza Inundata from Anguila?
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Tough to even find a hardware store where I can get 7000 glue traps, and they better be on sale.
Imagine the music you could play with those things, that is if you could find a mallet that was large enough.
... say goodbye to our old giant rats overlords.
Or to quote the lyrics from "Propellerheads - History Repeating": "The word is about, there's something evolving,
whatever may come, the world keeps revolving
They say the next big thing is here,
that the revolution's near,
but to me it seems quite clear
that it's all just a little bit of history repeating." Just a scary coincidence? I think not!
I get to build a better mousetrap !!! Ummm, a bigger mousetrap at least.
"The cetaceans are unusual in that they are aquatic life descended from land life. The manatees are also descended from land life (they are relatives of the giraffe). I don't know of other examples."
Manatees are NOT close relatives of the giraffe. The closest aquatic relatives of the giraffes are, again, the cetaceans.
The land to water transition among mammals isn't terribly uncommon though:
manatees are Afrotherians, closely related to elephants (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrotheria)
seals, walruses, sea lions and other Pinnipeds (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinniped) are carnivores related to bears and dogs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caniformia)
sea otters (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_otter) are marine weasels
Other mammals show distinct adaptations towards an aquatic lifestyle, e.g. rodents like the capybara, muskrat and beaver
an extinct ground sloth (http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v375/n6528/abs/375224a0.html)
the monotreme platypus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platypus)
the marsupial yapok (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_Opossum)
if you go past mammals, you have penguins (which 'fly' underwater), sea snakes, the Galapagos marine iguana, and the various giant extinct marine reptiles
etc. etc.
If there's success to be had in a given lifestyle, life will evolve branches in that direction.
I can't tell you how many of these things I had to grind to get to level 5.
Bury me in mashed potatoes.
When news of this reached him he put on a really big shit eating smile.
Tsukasa: All I really want, is to be left alone...
Clip showing the actual find:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOU8GIRUd_g
I want my Cowboyneal
What, no "Giant Rat of Sumatra" jokes yet?
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.