Giant rat is five times bigger than normal – and fears no-one

Published on Monday 17 December 2007 21:09

A NEW species of giant rat, five times the size of an ordinary one, has been discovered in a remote jungle.

Researchers in Indonesia say the animal has no apparent fear of humans.

The rat and a tiny possum that are apparently new to science were found in the Foja mountains rain forest in eastern Papua province in a June expedition, said the US-based Conservation International, which organised the trip along with the Indonesian Institute of Science.

"The giant rat is about five times the size of a typical city rat," said Kristofer Helgen, a scientist with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. "With no fear of humans, it apparently came into the camp several times during the trip."

The possum was described as "one of the world's smallest marsupials".

A 2006 expedition dubbed the same stretch of jungle as a "Lost World".

"It's comforting to know that there is a place on Earth so isolated that it remains the absolute realm of wild nature," said Bruce Beehler, the expedition leader.