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Scientists found the fossil of a giant rodent in the remains of a boulder in the coast of Uruguay yesterday. Dubbed Josephoartigasia monesi, the creature apparently had a skull measuring 53 cm (about 21 inches) in length and, from scientific approximation, had a body weight of about one metric ton (1000 kgs, 2204 lbs) - if not two metric tons as other scientists presume.
Andrés Rinderknecht of the National Museum of Natural History and Anthropology and Ernesto Blanco of the Institute of Physics, the two scientists credited for the find, estimated that the fossil's age was more or less 2 million years old and shouldn't be cause for alarm; J. monesi's teeth and jaw structure gave the impression that the rodent was more of a vegetarian than a carnivore.
Its impressive size was derived from comparing other rodent heads to their respective bodies. But scientists believe that larger fossils are likely to be found in the near future, for their estimates suggest that a J. monesi weighed in at about 1.1 metric tons on average (1100 kgs, 2600 lbs) and could have grown to more than twice the tonnage: a lumbering 2.5 metric tons (2500 kgs, 5700 lbs) in approximation. Look Ma, a big-ass rat.
"Imagine a mouse with the body weight of two race horses - it's very impressive indeed," Blanco told LiveScience. "All rodents have powerful bites, but this giant one's probably was terrific!"
Ah, encouraging words. Now run away, novice. This ain't level 1 training fodder anymore. Run. No, that save game won't help either. Just run for your life.
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