BIV
05-13-2005, 06:41 AM
From Metro News Source:
>>Scientists Discover New Family of Rodent
(Undated) -- Scientists say they have discovered an entirely new family of wildlife simply by spotting an odd type of rodent being sold as food in the southeast Asian country of Laos. The new species, which local people call kha-nyou (GA-nyou), have bodies about a foot long, with a furry six-inch tail, long whiskers and stubby legs. They vaguely resemble guinea pigs and chinchillas.
The discovery announced Wednesday by the Wildlife Conservation Society is described in the scientific journal "Systematics and Biodiversity." According to the "New York Times," differences in the animal's bone structure and DNA mean it is a member of a distinct family of animals that split off from the family tree of other rodents millions of years ago. Robert J. Timmins of the Wildlife Conservation Society said it is "extraordinary" to find something so distinct. The last new family of mammals was discovered in the 1970s, when a new family of bats was found in Thailand.
Timmins and other scientists first encountered the kha-nyou in the late 1990s when they found the animal's carcasses being sold by local farmers and hunters. After years of studying the specimens, researchers named the animal Laonastes aenigmamu but recommended that it be referred to by its common name of kha-nyou, or Laotian rock rat. Timmins said he has no plans to eat a rock rat and never thought to ask locals what they taste like.
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Joe Altman/jp
>>Scientists Discover New Family of Rodent
(Undated) -- Scientists say they have discovered an entirely new family of wildlife simply by spotting an odd type of rodent being sold as food in the southeast Asian country of Laos. The new species, which local people call kha-nyou (GA-nyou), have bodies about a foot long, with a furry six-inch tail, long whiskers and stubby legs. They vaguely resemble guinea pigs and chinchillas.
The discovery announced Wednesday by the Wildlife Conservation Society is described in the scientific journal "Systematics and Biodiversity." According to the "New York Times," differences in the animal's bone structure and DNA mean it is a member of a distinct family of animals that split off from the family tree of other rodents millions of years ago. Robert J. Timmins of the Wildlife Conservation Society said it is "extraordinary" to find something so distinct. The last new family of mammals was discovered in the 1970s, when a new family of bats was found in Thailand.
Timmins and other scientists first encountered the kha-nyou in the late 1990s when they found the animal's carcasses being sold by local farmers and hunters. After years of studying the specimens, researchers named the animal Laonastes aenigmamu but recommended that it be referred to by its common name of kha-nyou, or Laotian rock rat. Timmins said he has no plans to eat a rock rat and never thought to ask locals what they taste like.
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Joe Altman/jp