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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Photo: New Asian Rodent Found as Food Is "Living Fossil," Gene Study Confirms


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The Loatian rock rat was first discovered two years ago being sold as meat in a local market. Now new genetic analysis confirms the rodent is a "living fossil" that belongs to a family of rodents thought to have gone extinct 11 million years ago.

Photograph by Uthai Treesucon, courtesy David Redfield and reprinted with permission from Florida State University Research in Review magazine