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Lost World of Fanged Frogs and Giant Rats
pilsner.urquell writes "40 previously unidentified species were discovered inside the crater of an extinct volcano on Papua New Guinea. The finds include a hairy caterpillar, an iridescent beetle, a striped possum, and what may be the world's largest rat — the size of a 'well-fed cat,' and showing no fear of man. The extinct volcano Mount Bosavi last erupted more than 200,000 years ago." There are also an audio interview with the expedition leader and a gallery with 15 photos of the new species.
Here in the USA, we call those "lawyers". I've seen a few upside 'ah 300 lbs. You can't hunt 'em though :(.
The newly discovered Giant Rat was wiped out by a swarm of XP farmers.
Is there raptors in there? They are good for skinning and grinding on.
Ah... fun times in Un'goro crater...
a place for all the level one warrior wannabes to gain experience.
Jungle Spider
A quick google / wiki couldn't give me any deep information about a "jungle spider". Is that guy really holding an unknown species of spider with his bare hands? That's pretty ballsy.
that bacteria and/or viruses there also evolved separately and most humans are not immune to them? Shouldn't we quarantine the expedition team for a reasonable period of time after they got out?
Wasn't this already a movie?
Rodents of Unusual Size
p.s. Princess Bride was arguably one of the best movies ever made.
If I found a new species of spider, I sure wouldn't be letting it crawl around on my bare hand. I wouldn't want to be the first known victim of a new species.
http://www.tenjou.net/
The finds include a hairy caterpillar, an iridescent beetle, a striped possum, and what may be the world's largest rat
Note to self, cancel all plans for a vacation on Mount Bosavi.
Negative moral value of force outweighs the positive value of good intentions.
I mean really - rodents of unusual size -- clearly a tag of Fire Swamp is required
Its not the years, its the mileage
Do newly discovered ecosystems also represent new ecosystems of viruses, bacteria and diseases?
Better than a rabbit with large fans!
Fangs... and here I thought a single short line didn't need previewing *hangs head in shame*
An earlier article said around 1.5 kilograms (no I can't find it again). Our cat is reasonably small at 3 kilograms, so this rat would hardly be the size of a "well fed cat."
Having said that, I doubt I'd want it trying to take a chunk out of my leg.
I intend to live forever, or die trying. - Groucho Marx
A story i can sink my teeth into.
In Google we trust.
Here...
I wanna be a popstar.....
Tsukasa: All I really want, is to be left alone...
have died out of the world, for want of the strength to survive.
*DrugCheese rants*
The first thing that crossed my mind is that all these species are localized to one particular area and hence rather vulnerable if the environment changes in any way.
You only need to introduce 1 badly chosen predator and its the Stephens Island Wren all over again.
a.k.a.: "Wow, a new species, let's shoot it with a rifle and discover its @ss"
Favorite line in the video: "He's like a little puppy."
Why is the frog photographed with mouth closed? How are we supposed to see the fangs?
EEEEK!
They'll learn.
There was a fake article about such an animal years ago on thedailymash (an English satire online publication). The article can be found here. It's shocking how accurately satire can sometimes describe future events :)
This is slightly OT, but in high school in Kenya, some guy came by who was buying frozen rodents for dissection in American college biology classes. He was paying something like $0.50 or $1 per rodent. We got him as many bats as he could handle (which was less than we'd hoped for) but my friend put out a bounty out to the local community on rodents. He said he'd pay them something like $0.15 per rodent they brought him.
I guess he didn't specify DEAD rodents so someone assumed he meant alive. According to the who brought the rat, he had his 4 year old son go into a hole and pull out a giant rat that was so big that it had to be folded up to fit in a shopping bag. My friend got this rat in the bag, which I saw. It was still alive, barely. My friend stopped the bounty at that point as he didn't want to be responsible for some kid getting seriously injured for $0.15.
www.clarke.ca
Would Greenpeace and similar organisations be considered fans?
Don't hang your head, you're exposing your neck to assault!
By the Frogs !..... Riding the rats !
I sat down to write a new sig tonight and all I did was make the chair warm.
All well and good but where's my GIANT ENEMY CRAB?
www.parishilton.com
Sookie? Is that you? Aah told yah tuh stay inside.
Hello, I'm Doug McClure. You may remember me from such films as "The Land that Time Forgot" and "Chupacabra, the 'yo quiero Taco Bell' heir".
I hope, when they die, cartoon characters have to answer for their sins.
To me the interesting piece of information was that 200,000 years in this new ecosystem causes such big changes. I'm not familiar with how well we know the timescales of other types of adaptation changes but now we know rats can become huge and beetles iridescent in less then 200k years.
I don't think they exist. *pounce*
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
There's bigger rats than that, and they aren't all that rare. They're widely distributed in North America, but tend to congregate in Ottawa and Washington in Parliament, the Senate and Congress.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
"It was mind-blowing to be there and it is clearly time we pulled our finger out and decided these habitats are worth us saving," said Dr George McGavin who headed the expedition.
What a great call to action for the world over... "pull your finger out" and get back to work!
A fool throws a stone into a well and a thousand sages can not remove it.
Everyone here seems to be missing the an important part of TFA. Here's the paragraph with what I'm refering too, emphasis added on the important part:
I didn't know that Paupa New Guinea had kangaroos at all, much less any that lived in trees!
Might be tricky to get the logging equipment in there.
nothing a holy hand grenade couldn't take care of
and what may be the world's largest rat -- the size of a 'well-fed cat,' and showing no fear of man.
Bigger than a capybara?
I wonder how The Tick will respond to this revelation.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
You don't need to go into space for sexual cautionary tales like that. For instance, if I recall correctly, there's a filipino tale about a guy who made love to a hole in a tree and became obsessed with it.
This is interesting to me. I'm sure there are places that no one has ever seen before that have species just waiting to be discovered. It is kind of exciting to me just wondering what else is out there. More and more species are being discovered every year and unfortunately more and more are becoming extinct as well. I think we should be making more of an effort to seek out new life and preserve the life we have now.