Giant Rat Caught in China

A six-pound rat was caught in Fuzhou, Fujian, China. The ratcatcher is Mr. Xian, who grabbed the rat after he saw a crowd gathered around it.
He told local Chinese newspapers that he thought the rat might be a valuable specimen, or a rare species, and had to muster up his courage before grabbing its tail and picking it up by the scruff of its neck.

"I did it, I caught a rat the size of a cat!" he shouted out afterwards, according to the reports. Mr Xian is believed to still be in possession of the animal, after stuffing into a bag and departing the scene.

The rat had a 12-inch tail and teeth and inch long! Forestry officials who saw pictures think it's a Chinese bamboo rat, which rarely grow over ten inches long, but cannot be sure until they examine the rat itself. Link -via Arbroath

(image credit: News 163)

Comments (18)

Newest 5
Newest 5 Comments

I'm almost positive that this is a nutria. It has webbed hind feet, orange incisors, white patch around its muzzle, and it's about the right size. They are commonly raised by fur farmers in China and are feral in Thailand.
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I remember hearing about this other specie that has a crazy reproduction cycle too. Something to do with rabbits, bugs, grass, rabbit's feces, etc. I can't remember the name of the specie for the life of me :-(.
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@ hobbes3:
Many parasites have crazy reproductive cycles like this. I recently read "Parasite Rex" by Carl Zimmer where he describes many strange parasitic species and their big and often underestimated influence on many ecosystems - quite an interesting book!
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I've often thought that if parasites were ordering the tree of life, they would know that OBVIOUSLY the species with the most stages was the most superior.
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