According to the statement made by McGill University in Canada, paleontologists from the university, Thailand Department of Mineral Resources and research institutes in France examined mammal fossils found in the Krabi region of Thailand.
Using seven different methods to calculate body mass from fossil tooth measurements, researchers determined that this rodent weighed approximately 30 kilograms.
Researchers named this rodent species, which lived about 34 million years ago during the Middle Paleogene Period, as “Yakamys sirindhornae”, a combination of the Thai words “yak” meaning giant and the Greek word “mys” meaning mouse.
Stating that this rodent was twice the size of other rodents known at that time, the researchers noted that this finding reveals that the evolutionary history of large-bodied rodents is much older and more geographically widespread than previously accepted.
McGill University Biology Professor Virginie Millien, one of the authors of the study, said in a statement regarding the rodent’s weight: “This is an approximate figure because there is significant uncertainty in estimating fossil body mass.” made his assessment.
Millien stated that the largest rodents alive today are capybaras and pointed out that giant rodents mostly evolved in South America, but this discovery “shows that Southeast Asia also played an important role in the early evolutionary history of large-bodied rodents.”
The results of the research were published in the journal “Scientific Reports”.
