JAKARTA, Indonesia — Researchers in a remote jungle in Indonesia have discovered a giant rat and a tiny opossum that are apparently new to science, underscoring the stunning biodiversity of the Southeast Asian nation, scientists said Monday.
The animals were found in the Foja mountains rain forest in eastern Papua province in a June expedition, said U.S.-based Conservation International, which organized the trip along with the Indonesian Institute of Science.
“The giant rat is about five times the size of a typical city rat,” said Kristofer Helgen, a scientist with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. “With no fear of humans, it apparently came into the camp several times during the trip.”
The opossum was described as “one of the world’s smallest marsupials.”
The Associated Press
