Rats are more cats: on the island of Timor lived 5 kg rats

But despite the fact that there were 8 species of giant rats, all of them were constantly hunted by people, they existed for quite some time. According to the researchers, the rats were finally destroyed about 1,000 years ago. That is, natural endurance helped these giant rats to last much longer than, for example, mammoths, but their large size, in the end, let them down.

It is still difficult to say what caused the disappearance of giant Timorese rats. Most likely, the decisive factor was not hunting, but the fact that the rats began to be forced out of their habitats. This is indicated by the fact that huge rodents coexisted with people for a long period of time, but intensive hunting did not lead to the extinction of the population. Oddly enough, the development of agriculture on the island is most likely to blame for the final disappearance of rats. Just about 1000 years ago, the local population began to actively destroy forests for the sowing of crops, which ultimately led to the complete disappearance of these rodents.