<p>The skeletal remains of the monster rat, which is believed to have an estimated body weight of about six kg, were found during cave excavations in East Timor.<br /><br />The excavations carried out by a team from CISCO -- Australia's national body for scientific research -- also turned up 13 other species of rats, 11 of which are new to science, with eight of the rats estimated to have weighed more than 1 kg.<br /><br />The researchers believe the giant rat survived upto until about 1,000 to 2,000 years ago. Today's heftiest rats weigh around 2 kg and live in rain forests in the Philippines and New Guinea.<br /><br />Dr Ken Aplin, who led the excavation, said the latest findings indicate the rodents dominated the East Timorese animal kingdom about five million years ago.<br />"It was rat land with at least 13 species of rodents on an island that isn't that big," he was quoted as saying by the ABC News.<br /><br />"So it's incredible diversity," he said, adding large-scale clearing of forest for agriculture probably caused the extinctions.<br /><br />"This may have only been possible following the introduction of metal tools," Aplin said.<br />The team now plans to investigate an area of swampy rain forest where they believe some rare grass-eating rat species may still survive.<br /><br />"I do hold out that hope that some of the smaller species and some of possibly one or two of the largest animals, these grass-eating specialists, might still survive," Dr Aplin said.<br />"And if so we need to act quickly to conserve them."The findings have appeared in the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History.</p>
<p>The skeletal remains of the monster rat, which is believed to have an estimated body weight of about six kg, were found during cave excavations in East Timor.<br /><br />The excavations carried out by a team from CISCO -- Australia's national body for scientific research -- also turned up 13 other species of rats, 11 of which are new to science, with eight of the rats estimated to have weighed more than 1 kg.<br /><br />The researchers believe the giant rat survived upto until about 1,000 to 2,000 years ago. Today's heftiest rats weigh around 2 kg and live in rain forests in the Philippines and New Guinea.<br /><br />Dr Ken Aplin, who led the excavation, said the latest findings indicate the rodents dominated the East Timorese animal kingdom about five million years ago.<br />"It was rat land with at least 13 species of rodents on an island that isn't that big," he was quoted as saying by the ABC News.<br /><br />"So it's incredible diversity," he said, adding large-scale clearing of forest for agriculture probably caused the extinctions.<br /><br />"This may have only been possible following the introduction of metal tools," Aplin said.<br />The team now plans to investigate an area of swampy rain forest where they believe some rare grass-eating rat species may still survive.<br /><br />"I do hold out that hope that some of the smaller species and some of possibly one or two of the largest animals, these grass-eating specialists, might still survive," Dr Aplin said.<br />"And if so we need to act quickly to conserve them."The findings have appeared in the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History.</p>