Posted on 05/12/2005 7:57:49 PM PDT by ZULU
'Oddball rodent' in Laos takes scientists by surprise
By John Noble Wilford The New York Times
THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2005
They live in the forests and limestone outcrops of Laos. With long whiskers, stubby legs and a long, furry tail, they are rodents but unlike any seen before by wildlife scientists.
They are definitely not rats or squirrels, only vaguely like a guinea pig or a chinchilla. And they often show up in Laotian outdoor markets being sold for food. There, visiting scientists came upon the animals and determined that they represented a rare find: an entire new family of wildlife.
The discovery was announced Wednesday by the Wildlife Conservation Society and described in a report in the journal Systematics and Biodiversity.
The new species in this previously unknown family is called kha-nyou (pronounced ga-nyou) by local people.
Scientists found that differences in the skull and bone structure and in the animal's DNA revealed this to be a member of a distinct family that diverged from others of the rodent order millions of years ago.
"To find something so distinct in this day and age is just extraordinary," said Robert Timmins of the Wildlife Conservation Society, one of the discoverers. "For all we know, this could be the last remaining mammal family left to be discovered."
Naturalists had trouble recalling when a new family of mammals was last identified. It may have been when, in the 1970s, a new family of bats was found in Thailand. The most active period of finding and classifying new species and families was in the 19th century, when explorers and settlers moved into remote interiors of the continents.
Timmins said in an interview that he first came on the animals laid out on market tables. Local farmers and hunters trapped or snared the animals, slaughtered them and rushed them to market. As far as he knew, Timmins said, no Western scientists have ever seen a kha-nyou alive.
The encounter occurred in the late 1990s, about the same time that another scientist, Mark Robinson, independently collected several of the carcasses as specimens. The adults have bodies about a foot long, or 30 centimeters with a tail that is not as bushy as a squirrel's. They knew immediately that this was, as Timmins said, "an oddball rodent."
They live in the forests and limestone outcrops of Laos. With long whiskers, stubby legs and a long, furry tail, they are rodents but unlike any seen before by wildlife scientists.
They are definitely not rats or squirrels, only vaguely like a guinea pig or a chinchilla. And they often show up in Laotian outdoor markets being sold for food. There, visiting scientists came upon the animals and determined that they represented a rare find: an entire new family of wildlife.
The discovery was announced Wednesday by the Wildlife Conservation Society and described in a report in the journal Systematics and Biodiversity.
The new species in this previously unknown family is called kha-nyou (pronounced ga-nyou) by local people.
Scientists found that differences in the skull and bone structure and in the animal's DNA revealed this to be a member of a distinct family that diverged from others of the rodent order millions of years ago.
"To find something so distinct in this day and age is just extraordinary," said Robert Timmins of the Wildlife Conservation Society, one of the discoverers. "For all we know, this could be the last remaining mammal family left to be discovered."
Naturalists had trouble recalling when a new family of mammals was last identified. It may have been when, in the 1970s, a new family of bats was found in Thailand. The most active period of finding and classifying new species and families was in the 19th century, when explorers and settlers moved into remote interiors of the continents.
Timmins said in an interview that he first came on the animals laid out on market tables. Local farmers and hunters trapped or snared the animals, slaughtered them and rushed them to market. As far as he knew, Timmins said, no Western scientists have ever seen a kha-nyou alive.
The encounter occurred in the late 1990s, about the same time that another scientist, Mark Robinson, independently collected several of the carcasses as specimens. The adults have bodies about a foot long, or 30 centimeters with a tail that is not as bushy as a squirrel's. They knew immediately that this was, as Timmins said, "an oddball rodent."
They live in the forests and limestone outcrops of Laos. With long whiskers, stubby legs and a long, furry tail, they are rodents but unlike any seen before by wildlife scientists.
They are definitely not rats or squirrels, only vaguely like a guinea pig or a chinchilla. And they often show up in Laotian outdoor markets being sold for food. There, visiting scientists came upon the animals and determined that they represented a rare find: an entire new family of wildlife.
The discovery was announced Wednesday by the Wildlife Conservation Society and described in a report in the journal Systematics and Biodiversity.
The new species in this previously unknown family is called kha-nyou (pronounced ga-nyou) by local people.
Scientists found that differences in the skull and bone structure and in the animal's DNA revealed this to be a member of a distinct family that diverged from others of the rodent order millions of years ago.
"To find something so distinct in this day and age is just extraordinary," said Robert Timmins of the Wildlife Conservation Society, one of the discoverers. "For all we know, this could be the last remaining mammal family left to be discovered."
Naturalists had trouble recalling when a new family of mammals was last identified. It may have been when, in the 1970s, a new family of bats was found in Thailand. The most active period of finding and classifying new species and families was in the 19th century, when explorers and settlers moved into remote interiors of the continents.
Timmins said in an interview that he first came on the animals laid out on market tables. Local farmers and hunters trapped or snared the animals, slaughtered them and rushed them to market. As far as he knew, Timmins said, no Western scientists have ever seen a kha-nyou alive.
The encounter occurred in the late 1990s, about the same time that another scientist, Mark Robinson, independently collected several of the carcasses as specimens. The adults have bodies about a foot long, or 30 centimeters with a tail that is not as bushy as a squirrel's. They knew immediately that this was, as Timmins said, "an oddball rodent."
They live in the forests and limestone outcrops of Laos. With long whiskers, stubby legs and a long, furry tail, they are rodents but unlike any seen before by wildlife scientists.
They are definitely not rats or squirrels, only vaguely like a guinea pig or a chinchilla. And they often show up in Laotian outdoor markets being sold for food. There, visiting scientists came upon the animals and determined that they represented a rare find: an entire new family of wildlife.
The discovery was announced Wednesday by the Wildlife Conservation Society and described in a report in the journal Systematics and Biodiversity.
The new species in this previously unknown family is called kha-nyou (pronounced ga-nyou) by local people.
Scientists found that differences in the skull and bone structure and in the animal's DNA revealed this to be a member of a distinct family that diverged from others of the rodent order millions of years ago.
"To find something so distinct in this day and age is just extraordinary," said Robert Timmins of the Wildlife Conservation Society, one of the discoverers. "For all we know, this could be the last remaining mammal family left to be discovered."
Naturalists had trouble recalling when a new family of mammals was last identified. It may have been when, in the 1970s, a new family of bats was found in Thailand. The most active period of finding and classifying new species and families was in the 19th century, when explorers and settlers moved into remote interiors of the continents.
Timmins said in an interview that he first came on the animals laid out on market tables. Local farmers and hunters trapped or snared the animals, slaughtered them and rushed them to market. As far as he knew, Timmins said, no Western scientists have ever seen a kha-nyou alive.
The encounter occurred in the late 1990s, about the same time that another scientist, Mark Robinson, independently collected several of the carcasses as specimens. The adults have bodies about a foot long, or 30 centimeters with a tail that is not as bushy as a squirrel's. They knew immediately that this was, as Timmins said, "an oddball rodent."
Could it be that the Demo-RATS are reverting back to their original genetic line???
I guess you didn't get it, Stoned Dog.
I said Megarattus VOINOVICHII. The only connetion wiuth evolution is the evolution of a "Republican" Senator into a Jeffords clone.
Sorry if the story was posted before.
Give me thirty lashes with a wet noodle, o.k.?
this woman pictured here is not Laotian
I was just curious to know if there was some reason the article was posted 4 times in a row there... :)
"To find something so distinct in this day and age is just extraordinary," said Robert Timmins of the Wildlife Conservation Society, one of the discoverers. "For all we know, this could be the last remaining mammal family left to be discovered."
Hmmmm, should have asked local people. They even have a name for IT. Sooo, "discoverer" discovered people who "discovered" IT loooong ago? Fer sure last remaining mammal, that used to be democRAT.
Oh, by the way, it tastes like a chicken.
80 lashes with a wet noodle!!!
Ouch! Ouch!!! Ouch!!!
Here's a drawing of the little fellow.
He does resemble Voinovich. Look at that face.
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