THE giant super-rat found on a London housing estate could have come here from GAMBIA and would have been highly intelligent.
Boffins from the University of Liverpool believe the animal could be a Gambian pouched rat, which are becoming popular with pet owners because they “tame quite nicely”.
Experts have said the mammoth rat found Thursday is likely to have been someone’s pet – and added that it is not rare for people to keep that particular species on a lead.
Gambian pouched rats are so intelligent they have been used to sniff out landmines in the southern African nation of Mozambique.
Dr Dougie Clarke from the University of Huddersfield said the monster rats grow as big as four feet, and said: “These are highly intelligent and extremely large rodents – so big they are often kept on leads”.
A shocking photo of the super-rat found on an estate in Hackney, East London, on Thursday, caused mild controversy yesterday when some people were cynical about its alleged enormous size.
Some claimed it was as big as four feet long, but senior researcher and data scientist Oliver O’Brien dissected the image to give a more accurate idea of its length.
However his findings still judged the rat to be an incredible two feet long.
The Sun, UK
