Lost World, 2009

The story about the giant rat discovered in an isolated crater in Papua New Guinea is fascinating. It's kind of atypical in these days, but if you read through really old copies of National Geographic from the early 20th century it you observe that it occurred all the time back then. I would of course much rather live now at the turn of the 21st century than the turn of the 20th, but there's a certain amount of zoological and anthropological wonder that we'll not be able to attain because so much of the sample space of possibilities has been mapped out.

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Arthur Conan Doyle was prescient. In one of hie Sherlock Holmes stories, John Watson throws in a tidbit about a case involving "the giant rat of Sumatra". New Guinea? Close enough.

By Dave Gill (not verified) on 08 Sep 2009 #permalink

Ah, if it had only been found in Sumatra.

The rat didn't seem even remotely afraid of meeting these never seen before human creatures. This place must be not only devoid of humans but also of predators in general.

By ogunsiron (not verified) on 08 Sep 2009 #permalink