Comments on: Scientists Find Giant, 15-Pound Rat. (Don’t Worry, It’s Extinct.)

By: Aishwarya

Aishwarya — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 05:37:18 +0000

Rats also climb up my curtains and refuse to be chased out of my room.

By: Amos Zeeberg (Discover Web Editor)

Amos Zeeberg (Discover Web Editor) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:57:25 +0000

Squirrels and capybaras don’t live in and eat garbage. I suspect the common fear/hatred of vermin is actually pretty evolutionarily reasonable — they spread disease and eat food supplies. It’s like the ickiness of dead bodies.

Here in NYC, there are tons of squirrels and tons of rats. The rats run around the subway tracks and garbage cans at night; the squirrels run around the parks. Small wonder people like the squirrels more.

By: JMW

JMW — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 14:40:09 +0000

Why does this make me think of “Matilda Briggs was not the name of a young woman, Watson, . . . It was a ship which is associated with the giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet prepared.” – Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire”?

By: Romeo Vitelli

Romeo Vitelli — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 23:59:31 +0000

Capybaras are still the world’s largest rodent and can weigh up to 65 kilos. They even look like giant tailless rats.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capybara

By: Rhacodactylus

Rhacodactylus — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 21:53:07 +0000

I hate to drop the total nerd perspective here, but the things are friendly and intelligent. So long as you manage to keep them outside, I’ve never really understood why squirrel = good and rat = evil, a 15 pound rat might be more interesting as a pet than a house cat =)