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A giant rodent five times the size of a common rat, has been found in the mountainous jungles of New Guinea.

When a food safety inspector walked into a market in Queens, he noticed the store had an interesting special posted on its front window: 12 beefy armadillos. In Brooklyn, inspectors found 15 pounds of iguana meat at a West Indian market and 200 pounds of cow lungs for sale at another market. At a West African grocery in Manhattan, the store was selling smoked rodent meat from a refrigerated display case. An inspector quickly seized a couple pounds of it. All of it was headed for the dinner table. All of it was also illegal. Authorities say the discoveries are...

Warwick ? Republican Annie Rabbitt easily won her second term to the 97th Assembly District, defeating Democrat Michael Paduch. Rabbitt won by a healthy margin of 3,237 votes. While Paduch won in Rockland County with 2,097 votes to Rabbitt's 1,932, it was Orange County that carried the one-term incumbent to victory, gaining 17,118 votes in Orange versus Paduch's tally of 13,716. Paduch conceded about 11:15 last night after the final tally.

LUNENBURG— There’s still no sign of Capy. The escaped capybara, a large rodent native to South America, has been on the run since Tuesday. The animal escaped from Marshall Farm in Fitchburg, near the Lunenburg line, and was spotted Tuesday on the property of Frank and Debra McDonald of Northfield Road. The property abuts the Maplewood Golf Course. Maryann Benevento, who owns the public course with her husband, Joe, said the exotic herbivore known as Capy is probably enjoying his surroundings too much to head back home. “He’s probably happy as a clam out there with plenty of water and...

Some Cook County employees are treating their workspaces like a pigpen -- and that's why they've got rodent problems. That's the essence of a news release issued Tuesday by Chicago's Streets & Sanitation Department that set off a war of words with Cook County Clerk David Orr. On Monday, the Sun-Times reported complaints from clerk employees working in the basement of the City Hall/Cook County building who said they've been seeing rats in the office. But a surprise city inspection Tuesday turned up no sign of rats. Instead, city officials said, they found mice feces as well as "open food"...

SKAGIT COUNTY - A rodent that can decimate crop land has just been discovered in Skagit County -- an area with an economy that depends on agriculture. It's called nutria and it is native to South America. They look like a beaver, but they are much more dangerous. The nutria is a rodent that lives in the water and feeds on the land. It stops nothing short of eating every kind of crop, plant, marsh or forest. Bottom line: they are an enemy to the environment and a nightmare to farmers. "They eat everything. They are hungry, they breed like...

You know, we complain a lot about the war in Iraq yet here we are just sitting here and complaining. Why don't we do something and go enlist, or go encourage like-minded family members to do so?

'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...

Rat-Like Rodent May Be Coming to S.C. 1 hour, 41 minutes ago Strange News - AP COLUMBIA, S.C. - State wildlife officials are concerned that a large, rat-like rodent called nutria may soon be showing up in the Savannah and Pee Dee river basins. The furry bucktoothed rodent looks like a mix between a beaver and a rat and weighs up to 20 pounds. They have become a nuisance in other southern states because they eat marsh plants and dig through dams. Nutria reach sexual maturity within a year and quickly reproduce. They are enough of a problem in Louisiana...

When Buffy the Chihuahua lost a puppy during a C-section July 29, the doctor sent her home with a replacement for consolation — a chipmunk weighing less than an ounce. Marty the chipmunk has adapted well to Buffy’s nursing, surprising even his caretaker. “He won’t know he’s a chipmunk when his eyes open,” said Imogene Wills, 70, the dog’s owner.

Angry Mom Flings Pizza At Chuck E. Cheese Character POSTED: 12:48 pm EDT June 29, 2004 MACON, Ga. -- A teenager dressed as Chuck E. Cheese was pelted with pizza and threatened with a beating Sunday by an angry parent who said the restaurant mascot wasn't paying enough attention to her child. Macon police reported that a 17-year-old girl was in costume as the pizzeria chain character -- a gray cartoonlike rodent with large front teeth. That's when the 31-year-old Macon woman threw a piece of pizza at her, the report stated. The woman then allegedly threatened to "whip" the...

Think the rodents you've seen in movies are scary? Scientists who've analyzed the fossilized remains of an extinct South American relative of guinea pigs say that the ancient bruisers were as large as bison. HIDE THE CHEESE. A bison-size rodent, Phoberomys pattersoni, grazed on aquatic grasses and roamed the riverbanks of ancient Venezuela about 8 million years ago.C.L. Cain/Science Researchers first described Phoberomys pattersoni in 1980 but until recently had only bone fragments and isolated teeth to study. Despite that limitation, scientists suspected that the animals were huge, says Marcelo R. Sánchez-Villagra, a paleontologist at the University of Tübingen in...

The fossil remains of a gigantic rodent that looked something like a monster guinea pig have been identified by scientists in Venezuela. The 700-kilogram beast - about the size of a buffalo - lived among the reeds and grasses of an ancient river system that threaded its way into the Caribbean Sea eight million years ago. Researchers think the creature, which was 10 times as big as today's largest rodents, could have run in huge packs. Evidence suggests it also had to dodge the constant attentions of super-sized crocodiles and carnivorous birds, which stood three metres tall. The biggest The...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. The full magnitude of the world's largest ever rodent has been revealed- the now-extinct monster was the size of a cow. The creature weighed in at 700 kilograms and lived eight million years ago, roaming the lush banks of the ancient Orinoco delta in northwestern Venezuela. But the three-metre-long, 1.3-metre-tall behemoth was an evolutionary cousin of today's humble guinea pig. Phoberomys pattersoni would have lived a semi-aquatic life, munching sea grass and dodging other strange, gargantuan creatures such as three-metre-long crocodiles, lion-sized marsupial cats and huge, flightless carnivorous birds, according to...

Scientists Bring New Twist To 'Death By Chocolate' With Chocolate Flavoured Mousetrap <!-- BODY BEGIN <p>A mousetrap made out of chocolate developed by scientists at the University of Warwick is set to bring a new meaning to 'Death by Chocolate'. The novel invention leads mice into temptation with the irresistible, alluring scent of chocolate essence without the use of bait. </p> <p><p>A collaboration of the University of Warwick's Innovation Direct service, a free consultancy service for SMEs (Small and Medium Sized Enterprises) and Sorex Ltd, a leading manufacturer of rodent control products, from Cheshire, has developed the mousetrap made out...

Police Investigate Rodent in a Roadster Sun Sep 8, 9:56 AM ET LONDON (Reuters) - British detectives are investigating the mystery of a hamster found driving a toy racing car along a promenade at a northern seaside resort, newspapers said on Saturday. The hamster, nicknamed Speedy, was handed in by a member of the public who found him cruising through Cleveleys, near Blackpool in the modified toy, which he powered by a treadmill. "It is a model hotrod racing car with large wheels at the back and small ones at the front," the Daily Express quoted Constable Quentin Allen...

A PROBLEM WITH PRAIRIE DOGS Debate over rodents' removal has Lubbock leaders in a bind By EVAN MOORE Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle LUBBOCK -- The atmosphere was electric, charged with anticipation as Linda Watson knelt in the dirt and thrust a sunburned arm elbow-deep down a prairie dog hole. Sean Meyers / Special to the Chronicle Linda Watson, who runs a business specializing in trapping prairie dogs, and Daryl Hogue of Lubbock run water into a prairie dog hole to force the animals to the surface so they can be relocated. "Got him," breathed Watson. Then, with one deft movement...