Another Sunset - Beautiful.....

No words to explain the beauty of God creation. Just stare and appreciate every moments of it and feel the peace and joy in our heart......

New Species of Giant Rat

Since i don't have a chance to go into the forest and doing observations by myself, i am searching for any news on animals that interests me. In my previous posts, World's Largest Extinct Rodent i found an interesting findings on the largest rats with weigh ~700 kilograms. However, it was an extinct species, so how about the alive giant rats?

A giant rat was recorded by scientists as probable new species to science on their expedition to Indonesia's remote and virtually unknown "Lost World" in the pristine wilderness of western New Guinea's Foja Mountains.

The giant rat was about five times the size of a typical city rat as per Dr. Kristofer Helgen, as Scientist with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. This rat have no fear of human and apparently came into the camp several times during the trip.

Photo Courtesy: Conservation International

The photo shows the mammal expert Martua Sinaga holds a 3-pound (1.4 kg) rat.

World's Largest Extinct Rodent

I surf around in the internet trying to find the largest rodents in the world and end up with the extinct species of rat.

The world's largest rodent, Phoberomys pattersoni claimed to be more like a giant guinea pig (Cavia porcellus) rather than an oversize house rat (Rattus rattus). This species was reported to be the largest rodent that ever existed, although it has been known only from isolated teeth and fragmentary postcranial bones. The weigh (body mass) was estimated ~700 kilograms, more than 10 times the mass of the largest living rodent, the capybara. Fuh...i can't imagine that size of rat.

Almost 700 kilograms and if i look at it i will also think it is a guinea pig and not a rat. If it is still alive, i will not dare to come close to it. This finding was really interesting and it is really really big animal (especially for a rat).

However, the Phoberomys was most likely a herbivore and Marcelo Sanchez-Villagra, a paleontologist at the University of Turbingen in Germany doubt it was a pest.

Read more at: Science Magazine and National Geographic

My First Award

Ratty from The everyday Adventurer listed me in his Eleven Award Winners for the "Honest Scrap Award. This is the first award that i have won since i created this blog April 2007. So, i would like to thank him for giving me this award. Link to his post: My Honest Scarp Award.

Here are the rules for the Honest Scarp Award:

The honorees are to:

A) List 10 honest things about yourself - and make it interesting, even if you have to dig deep!

B) Pass the award on to 7 Bloggers that you feel embody the spirit of the Honest Scarp.

Ten Honest Things About Me:

1. Insurance agent is my first job after graduated in Conservation Biology for my bachelor degree.
   
2. I am jobless for about 2 months after my third job as a temporary secondary school teacher.
3. I really love to laugh and smile.
4. I am "boyish" type of girl.
5. I love music but i don't know how to sing correctly following the rhythm. hahaha...
6. I have guitar since 1999 but until today i still can not play any songs...:((
7. I have my first international passport last week.
   
8. I don't like botany and i failed my botany course during my bachelor degree.
9. I climb Mount Kinabalu, Sabah in year 2000 and for that trip i was the third climbers that reach the peak at 4.15am...Yehaa...i am too excited.
10. What is my last? Think..think..think....mmmm....I love to drink coffee....

Okay..that is ten honest things about me. I am not sure if i play this right but i still want to participate. So, now i have to pass this award to another seven person that i think deserve this award.

My Seven Award Winner:

1. aD
   
2. Joe
   
3. Christie Lynn
4. Bibianna
5. William H. Balzac
   
6. Belden
   
7. Mary Moss

Hmm...i think i am done with this award so i hope the seven people that i give this award will participate but no rush friends. Take your time. It takes me three days to think what should i write in this posts too.

The Smallest Mammals of The World

During my presentation on Saturday, i still remember the audience asking me about the largest and the smallest small mammals in the world. I don't have the answer for that question so i didn't give them the accurate answer about that. So, i am not feeling good about it. Therefore, i try to find the information about this fact.

As i browse through the article and some other websites that i found using Google search, there was information about it.

The smallest mammal in the world is the tiny bat weighs less than 2 grams. Its body is about the size of a large bumble-bee, hence the common name "bumble-bee bat". The bumble-bee bat Craseonycteris thonglongyai was first discovered in 1973, it was until recently only known from a small population of approximately 2,300 individuals restricted to the catchment area of the River Kwai, Thailand. The bumble-bee bat is categorized as Endangered on the IUCN Red List where the main threats are from burning of the forest areas near the limestone caves in which it lives.

For more information do visit this site: EDGE and Cambridge Journals Online.

Public Talk on Small Mammals

I have to give a public talk on small mammals study that i have done in Planted Forests Project in Bintulu. What can i say about this talk? I am not well prepared, i think. I only have less than two days to make a preparation and i really screwed it up.

It was about 30+ people attend my talk and it makes me more nervous. I was trying to send a message about small mammals conservation since people always think of small mammals as a pests. However, i don't think i give an informative presentations because i was a little bit blank and out of focus during the presentations. The truth is my power point presentations only complete an hour before the talk. So...i am not ready! Huhuhu...It's okay.

This is some of my friends that attend my talk and some of them are Sarawak Natural Science Society club members.

I would like to thanks all of them that supports my talk yesterday.