Toothless rat - the only rodent in the world, unable to chew

Scientists have discovered a surprising rat in Indonesia, which has almost no teeth. Two rats were previously unknown to science species caught last year on the island of Sulawesi in the mountain rainforest. Externally very similar to normal rodent gray pet rat, and differs from it only the big ears and an elongated muzzle resembling the trunk. Scientists have given a new kind of almost unpronounceable name Paucidentomys vermidax, which roughly means "toothless rat».

Indeed, if you open your mouth rat, you can see that there is almost no teeth, except for two large upper incisors. Rat use them like a knife, eating their usual menu - earthworms. Rodent first worm sucks, cutting it into slices with their incisors, and then spits and swallows cooked "meal" is already completely.





Not surprisingly, the strange beast was very interested in biology. Scientists know that his relatives, representatives of numerous rodents, have achieved great success in the animal world, largely due to the structure of their teeth. In rodents, they are growing all the time, which allowed them to eat literally anything, and sneaks into the most inaccessible places. It is obvious that the opening of a toothless rodent that sucks food by mouth, it was a shock to the science.

"Lost all his teeth, but a pair of unusually shaped incisors that can not be chewed, new rats are truly unique among rodents," - said one of the participants of the expedition opened the animals Ananga Setiawan Ahmadi.

According to his colleague Kevin Rowe of the Museum Victoria in Melbourne, unusual feature of rats most likely was the result of evolution, as they had to adjust to life in the wet forest, where the most affordable food - earthworms.

via factroom.ru