If you’re scared of rats, you may want to look away now.
For scientists have identified one of the largest species in the world – and it can crack open coconuts with its bare teeth.
The giant rat – named Uromys vika – is a foot-and-a-half long and weighs up to two pounds. It nests up to 30ft high in trees in the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific.
However only one has been found, and it died shortly after capture. The animal is more than four times the size of British black rats, which grow no more than ten inches long.
The giant rat – named Uromys vika – is a foot-and-a-half long and weighs up to two pounds. It nests up to 30ft high in trees in the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific
Its existence has long been suspected, with islanders passing on stories of it cracking open coconuts.
Dr Tyrone Lavery, from the Field Museum in Chicago, who discovered the rat, said: ‘The new species, Uromys vika, is pretty spectacular – it’s a big, giant rat.
‘It’s the first rat discovered in 80 years from Solomons, and it’s not like people haven’t been trying – it was just so hard to find.’
The giant Vika, as it is commonly known, is more than four times the size of the black rats living in Britain, which grow no more than 10 inches long.
The animal is more than four times the size of British black rats, which grow no more than ten inches long
The rat’s existence has long been suspected, with islanders passing on stories of it cracking open coconuts
It is brown-haired, with wide hind feet and curved claws, and measures up to a foot and a half from nose to tail.
Its hairless tail is at least as long as its body and it nests high up in the kapuchu trees of Vangunu in the Solomon Islands, having probably reached its home by swimming from the mainland.
The rat’s existence has been suspected for at least two decades, with people who live on the island passing on stories of it cracking open coconut shells.
That has not yet been confirmed, but evidence has been found that the rat breaks into another very thick-shelled nut called the ngali, chewing circular holes to reach the inside.
It nests high up in the kapuchu trees of Vangunu in the Solomon Islands (pictured), having probably reached its home by swimming from the mainland