Rodents of Unusual Size

lowy writes "The New York Times has a story (free registration, blah, blah) reporting that paleontologists are claiming they have a nearly complete skeleton of a 1500-pound distant relative of the guinea pig. Would Westley and Buttercup have made it through the Fire Swamp if the R.O.U.S's were this big?"

that's a lot of Italian pork, my friends

[Dancin_Santa]

Nothing better than guinea pig sausages before going out on the daily hunt.

Of Course they would ...

[altp]

--
Would Westley and Buttercup have made it through the Fire Swamp if the R.O.U.S's were this big?
--

Of course, I don't think they really exist.

See also...

[keesh]

From the bbc [bbc.co.uk]... No registration required

Straight from the horse-sized rodent's mouth

[RobertB-DC]

If you don't like registration, just search news.google.com with appropriate keywords, and Voila! Horse-sized Rodents! [nytimes.com]

Unusual size

[morcheeba]

Ha ha! I just watched that movie and then heard the story on NPR, and didn't make the connection.

They said that the legs of the huge creature were built like the legs of other rodents - designed for burrowing, and not for running. They said that usually animals have one of two escape mechanisms - either burrow (like mice), or run (like most big creatures). They thought this guy would be evolutionary challenged because there aren't many holes big enough for a 6-foot rat to escape into. (lame richard gere [about.com] jokes aside)

In Related News

[Samus]

The US Olympic commitee has ordered [kansascity.com] Nebraska Wesleyan University to stop using the name Rat Olympics in their annual behavioral learning rat competition because it infringes on their name. Seems to me that name olympics far preceeds even this countries founding. The USOC has gone too far yet again.

Re:In Related News

[borgboy]

how appropriate that it's Nebraska Wesleyan...

Princess bride references ++;

[n1ywb]

speaking of rodents, did you know that rabbits aren't rodents? I learned that just this summer. I always thought they were, but it turns out that their in their own Pika family, completely unrelated to rodents, although clearly quite similar. It's funny how two disparate species can evolve into almost the same animal,

Lagomorphs

[Anonymous Coward]

Thing you learn from Sam & Max...

Re:Princess bride references ++;

[barakn]

Nope. Rabbits/hares and pikas comprise the order Lagomorpha, but they occupy separate families, the Leporidae and the Ochotonidae.

The Princess Bride

[RedWolves2]

The Princess Bride [amazon.com] is one of my favorite Drinking games. You will get drunk within the first five minutes of the movie.

Drinking Game Rules:
When you hear a predetermined word or phrase, you must drink. Here are some of the catch phrases you MUST use for optimum enjoyment of this game:

Farmboy

As you wish.

Buttercup

Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die.

Inconceivable

True love.

Mawige.

Humperdink

Man in black.

Boo!

Rodents of unusual size

you truly have a dizzying intellect. Wait till I get going!

What's so funny? I'll tell you in a minute.

...and dream of large women.

hahahahahahahahahahaha... (thud)

I am not left-handed!

I'm not left-handed either!

Life is pain, highness...anyone that says otherwise is selling something.

Ever heard of Aristotle? Socrates? Yes. Morons.

Anybody want a peanut?

My way isn't sportsmanlike.

It is important to drink when ANY character says these catch phrases, as they occur in many places, even in the narration. You'll find that they occur more frequently than you might think.

Re:The Princess Bride

[WTFmonkey]

So you basically stop drinking only to breathe? Sounds good to me.

That's like the Outlaw Josey Wales one where you drink when Clint kills someone, spits, or says, "I reckon." Good times all around!

Or, this non-reg link

[scootr1]

..to the UK's Independent:

link [independent.co.uk]

Rodents of unusual size

[jtev]

Um, now I'm sure I'm going to get shouted down for this, but Guinea pigs aren't rodents, they are cavies, and closely related to Pachyderms, like Hippos and Elephants, in fact they are more closely related to horses than to mice.

Re:Rodents of unusual size

[Anonymous Codger]

"Guinea pigs aren't rodents, they are cavies"

Just checked Britannica. A guinea pig is a cavy, and a cavy is a rodent "belonging to the family Caviidae (order Rodentia)".

Re:Rodents of unusual size

[barakn]

Hippos aren't pachyderms. They are in the order Artiodactyla, which also has the pigs, deer, camelids, giraffes, bovines (cows, sheep, goats, buffalo, etc.), and the pronghorn antelope. The horse is in the order Perissodactyla, which also includes tapirs and rhinos. Elephants are in their own order, Proboscidea. The closest living relative of the elephant is probably (debated by some) the hyrax (order Hyracoidea), a small guinea pig-like animal that you probably confused with the guinea pig. Also distantly related to the elephant is the order Sirenia, manatees and dugongs.

Thanks for trying to confuse the issue. Who the hell modded you informative?

Re:Rodents of unusual size

[iggymanz]

Pachyderm just denotes a "thick-skinned mammal"...it's really not a good biological classification at all. If you check your dictionary, hippos and rhinos and elephants are included, and some dictionaries even show the word used for hogs!

Re:Rodents of unusual size

[barakn]

You're right, Sir, though my dictionary adds the words 'large' and 'hoofed.'

Re:Rodents of unusual size

[meiocyte]

Is the guinea-pig a rodent? [nih.gov]

No, the guinea-pig is not a rodent. [nih.gov]

It seems that Nature [nature.com] is really into guinea-pigs!
This is a better writeup than the New York Times article, by the way. Although it does refer to them as rodents.

While I'm whoring, this page [palaeos.com] ought to settle some of the phylogenetic fracas here.

Re:Rodents of unusual size

[jtev]

Thanks. I got the molecular info out of a pet care book on guinea pigs. it's good to have a more um, eloquent source now.
--

I must be getting old...

[ivanmarsh]

I heard "rodents of unusual size" and immeiately thought "Food of the Gods".

The movie that taught us:

Big rodents, no problem.
Big wasp, run!

Re:I must be getting old...

[Walt Dismal]

I read 'giant rats' and immediately thought of Santa Cruz.

Old news...

[MarkGriz]

There was a documentary done in the 70's about this. See here [imdb.com].

Ok, not *technically* a documentary, but a pretty good (yet cheesy) movie.

Capybara anecdote

[ballpoint]

The capybara [rebsig.com] is a pretty big rodent too.

I saw and ate them when I was in Venezuela. Driving around we went to a steak house. Our ordering of a big steak was met with despise from the waiter. Oh yes, it was Good Friday and, Venezuela being a very Catholic country, they didn't want to serve meat.

Capybara was ok, however. They consider it to be a fish since it lives in swamps.

I didn't like it too much though; the meat is rather tasteless and fibery.

Re:Capybara anecdote

[barakn]

I ate a guinea pig in Ecuador. The locals claim the head meat is the best, but I couldn't tell. And it certainly didn't taste like chicken. The meat was oily, maybe a little like duck. The restaurant owners kept the guinea pigs in a room specifically for the rodents; they just ran around on the straw-covered floor. That kind of scene that would instantly fail a health inspection in the States.

Rodents of Unusual Size?

[Skeezix]

I don't think they exist.

Groan

[Fizyx]

I had seen that article, and loved the movie, but never made the connection. "I wish I had said that."

Not so unusual...

[MImeKillEr]

I mean, we've got a couple of large-size rodents:

Darl McBride

Cary Sherman

They're at least 5'8" apiece, right?

The only answer:

[cybermace5]

Would Westley and Buttercup have made it through the Fire Swamp if the R.O.U.S's were this big?

INCONCEIVABLE!!!

Re:The only answer:

[gooberguy]

You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means.

Re:The only answer:

[cybermace5]

Are you challenging me to a battle of wits? To the DEATH?

Re:The only answer:

[KillerBob]

No. To the pain.

Um...

[Elwood P Dowd]

I'm a 180 lbs distant relative of a guinea pig.

What, no one's done it yet?

[La Temperanza]

I, for one, welcome our new guinea pig overlords.

Giant Rats at Chernobyl already!

[jameskojiro]

I heard they already have rats that are bigger than normal near the old Chernobyl Nuclear power plant in Russia. They are no where near the size as the ones in the article, but they are a little bigger than the neighboring rats due to Nuclear contamination. Is this where we are heading if there ever is a nuclear war?

700Kg rats?

Re:Giant Rats at Chernobyl already!

[Lord Kano]

Is this where we are heading if there ever is a nuclear war?

700Kg rats?

In the event of a nuclear way, 3/4 ton animals of any type would be welcome. You could feed a nice sized group of people for a long time on a 1500 pound animal.

LK

There's a bigger find in Australia

[azav]

This wombat will take that guinea pig any day.

Re:There's a bigger find in Australia

[azav]

I suck. Maybe this time I'll get it right.

Here:

This wombat will take that guinea pig any day.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/311393 2. stm

HAR HAR HAR!!!

[mechugena]

"Dad," said the kid, "can I have five dollars to buy a guinea pig?" "Here's ten dollars, son. Go find yourself a nice Irish girl." Go ahead...mod me offtopic!

Re:HAR HAR HAR!!!

[phfpht]

"Dad, can I have five dollars?" said the kid. "Why?" asked the dad. "To buy a giunea pig for a pet." answered the kid. "Here's two dollars, son. Go find yourself a nice Irish girl." Works better if the girl is cheaper than the pet. And, somewhere I once read that $2 suggested the cheap girl was a hooker. It was a "traditional" price for a trick... somewhere. Or something to that effect. Down the karma tubes go.....

Ooh, Jesus Christ

[Xenothaulus]

It's Lemmiwinks's [mac.com] great*10^32 uncle.

Coypu/Nutria... ummm....

[vudufixit]

These critters are destroying docks and wharves down in the bayou country. They're big, nasty and... tasty! Interesting that Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat books feature a certain "Professor Coypu."

Movie references

[PhilHibbs]

I was having a drunken 'favourite movie' arguement with some colleagues over a meal, and while one of the six present had seen Princess Bride and agreed with me, none of them had heard of Koyaanisqatsi. They all looked at me like I was mad.

Re:Movie references

[R2.0]

I've seen it. I thought it sucked. And then I had to write a paper on it.

"Nature good. Technology bad." Bleh. Got an "A", though.