The biggest rat in the world: the winner by weight and the winner by size

The rat is an animal, with which there are manysuperstitions, myths and prejudices. In the Middle Ages, these animals were considered envoys and accomplices of the devil, and modern mankind is mostly afraid of them, considering not only the bearers of the infection (which has long been scientifically proven), but also aggressive, mean and insidious creatures. Although many people, whose ordinary gray rat became a pet, were convinced that these animals are affectionate, intelligent and faithful. Unlike most rodents, they are very clean and on their own initiative choose places for "toilet", without leaving traces of life activity throughout the apartment.

However, even those who are hostile towardsthese rodents, curious what the largest rat in the world and where she lives. Probably, at least in order to breathe a sigh of relief, counting the kilometers that separate her from her home.

"Apple of discord": capybara

Most people believe that the biggestThe rat in the world is a cappuccino living in South and Central America. On the one hand, they are right in something: the capybara grows to a height of half a meter, in length - a meter, and in weight - fifty kilograms. However, it would be more correct to say that the cappuccino is the largest rodent, and not a rat. The structure of the body and muzzle in it is very different from all known types of rats. Moreover, she does not have a tail from birth, claws are hooflike, and the diet is exceptionally vegetative, while most rats are omnivorous. So from a scientific point of view, taking capybaric as a rat is wrong.

Challengers for victory

Until recently, it was believed that the largestThe rat in the world is the bamboo Sumatran. Its length, taking into account the tail, in some cases reached seventy-five centimeters. Individuals weighed as much as four kilograms. However, now this record is beaten.

Unproved by the winner for a whilewas considered "extraction" of a Chinese from Fuzhou. Right in the city, he managed to catch a specimen that had only a tail of one-third of a meter-and in rats it was shorter than the body of thirty percent. Libra showed that the beast was "tightened" by eleven kilos; and incisors in an animal grew by 2.5 centimeters. However, in addition to photography, in order to prove the "hunter" could not bring anything else, so the existence of this monster remained in question.

The biggest rat in the world

A giant variety of these rodents is found inNew Guinea, on Papua. They were discovered by scientists who conducted observations in a completely different field of science. It is noteworthy that it was not a single mutant that was found, but an entire population that chose the extinct volcano of Bosavi as its place of settlement. By weight, these rats are inferior to the largest specimens from Sumatra, but exceed them in length - the average "growth" of the giants is about 80 centimeters, and the maximum that was measured is a meter and 20 centimeters. Otherwise, the animals look like a gray gray rat, and habits with habits are similar.

The extinct winner

Not so long ago, scientists established that the largestthe rat in the world ceased to exist a thousand or two years ago. Excavations in the southeast of Asia, on the island of Timor, struck archaeologists: they found the skeletons of rats, which during life weighed about six kilograms. Presumably, in length they reached one and a half meters and more. Thus, it was the largest rat in the world both in weight and in size - unlike the modern representatives of the genus, who divided the laurels between the two species. Scientists believe that the cause of the extinction of the giants was human activity on deforestation, accompanied by an active hunt for rodents who went to food.

Russian record holders

The vastnesses of the country do not differa variety of species of rats. The largest in Russia is the gray big rat, it is granary, it is also a pasyuk. In length it reaches forty centimeters, although most specimens are much smaller. The average weight is about 170 grams, although some individuals can gain up to four hundred.

However, the Russian record holder can be consideredThe Indonesian rat, well accustomed to the Moscow metro. The average weight of this variety is three hundred grams; there are copies and a half a kilogram. Their body length is about 50 centimeters (with a tail, of course); registered individual representatives who grew to 65. Of course, the question remained unclear as to where the Indonesian rats took the metro, but there is no need to worry about the mutants.