A new study recently revealed that prehistoric rodents were actually the size of a pony, rather than of a bison, as it was previously believed.
There is an ongoing debate regarding the estimated size of these creatures. Paleontologists believed that one of the largest rodents that inhabited our planet weighed around 2000 pounds, which is similar to the weight of a bison. However, new measuring methods suggest that they actually weighed as much as a pony, challenging the previous beliefs.
In a study entitled Resizing the largest known extinct rodents using occipital condyle width, published in the Royal Society Open Science publication, Russell Engelman, who is studying for his Ph.D. from the Case Western Reserve University, presented his method of measuring the weight of the prehistoric animals.
Engelman’s suggested way of estimating the size of the ancient rodents involves comparing a joint located behind their skull to the same joint found in the present-day mammals. According to The New York Times, “Mr. Engelman turned to the occipital condyle, the joint that helps connect an animal’s skull with its spine. The size of this joint varies little across all mammals to ensure the skull and spine stay securely attached, making it a bellwether for comparing different species.”
Engelman also stated that, while paleontologists usually look for differences between animals, when it comes to the body size, it is recommended to analyze the similarities with today’s animals and find what part of them has changed the least.
Based on this reasoning, the author of the study analyzed over 400 species of mammals and concluded that the occipital condyle provided very accurate information regarding the size of the animal. In this way, he was able to re-evaluate the size of prehistoric rodents and determine that they were not as big as paleontologists thought initially.
However, even if the results of the study are more realistic than the conclusions of previous research, specialists agree that the investigation of a higher number of fossils is necessary before establishing exactly what the largest rodent on earth used to weigh.
