The skull of a rat the size of a car. Wow ! I still think that when the first animals were created the Maker had no sense of proportion and everything was gigantic. They say there were trees 300 feet high, grass was six feet high, some leaves on trees were two feet wide. I bet fleas in those days were as big as bees !

Phil de Buquet, Newport, England

Great-Grand-mama!

Stephanie, Ottawa, Canada

All funny jokes about the Princess Bride have been made so the only original route for me to tread is, 'Americans are stupid. ha ha'

n.b. I do actually believe that despite the tone of the message

George, Manchester,

That's because we Brits are educated!

Nigel, London, UK

Interesting article. Might find rats near its size in the NYC sewer system.

Dinosaur soft tissue has been found in large fossilized leg bones.

How come so many Nobel prizes for science and math go to US citizens, if they're so stupid?

Ben , alexandria, USA, VA

Interesting how 'Fedup w/Republicans, STL, USA' makes no mention of any specific issues regarding 'far right wing Republican religious zealots'...just mean spirited rhetoric.

How about discussing an actual issue and then being prepared to defend it.

Ray, Mt. Vernon, IL

This rat must have come from the USA, not South America, because everyone knows we have the biggest and best of everything here. Expecially bigger and better than anything in England.

Rich, Austin, TX

Wow- right wing evangelicals know there is a world outside of the US? I'm amazed that they've found this site. Embarassed that I live in the same country as those inbreds, but amazed, none the less.

Teri, San Francisco, USA

I hate rats so the idea of giant ones fills me with horror... The only cheerful thought is that there were probably cats big enough around then to take care of them

Dan, Winchester, UK

Mark of the UK,

It's not all Americans, just these idiot far right wing Republican religious zealots that think the world is only a few hundred thousand years old. They reject everything except what makes them money, and they try to push their ideals on everyone else. They also use false facts and conjecture to prove their point, and think a scientific theory is just an idea, obviously not educated enough to know what science is.

Fedup w/Republicans, STL, USA

Very interesting find and article. To the poster who noted that the most ridiculous comments appear to come from the USA: that's what happens when a website frequented by right-wing ideologues and nutjobs (i.e., The Drudge Report) links to an article. All the little drudgebots pour forth to spew their silliness. It's like turning over a rock. You have to realize you're dealin' with the 6,000-year-old-Earth crowd here. :(

xhepera, Jefferson City, Missouri/USA

Have you noticed most of the arrogant sanctimonious comments on these websites are from the UK?

Jim , Mayberry, NC/USA

We finally found the missing link of DemocRAT Ted Kennedy's lineage!

Fred Hoot, Sunnyvale, USA/CA

Okay, stick with me here...There were princesses in the Bible. There were weddings in the Bible. There were ROUSs in "The Princess Bride." So QED, "The Princess Bride" is Biblically true! That was easy, wasn't it?

Frank Moss, Jr, Robertson County, Tennessee, USA

Prehistoric Liberal.

james d hatheway, pgh,

Have you noticed most of the ridiculous comments on these websites are from the USA.

Are you all thick or what!

And as for God, try believing in yourself than something you have probably never even dare question whether the concept is true or not!

mark, uk,

I won't believe it untill Archeologists uncover a 50 foot rat trap!

NIck Knight, Skerries, Ireland

ROUS', (for non-Princess Bride fans, that's "rodents of unusual size"), here they are! They actually exist...ed.

Gerrie Ggouen, Hopedale, Ma USA

cars are 53 centimeters long?

David Froyla, sf, ca

It is obvious that this creature is nothing more that an ordinary rat with an enormous head, and this didn't work out too well, so that is why it is now extinct.

rosco rodent, nowhere, idaho

witnessed these yesterday first hand in the new york city subway system

gerard pawling, simsbury connecticut, USA/Connecticut

Rodents of Unusual Size eh? Is that where the famed story takes place?

Dean, Madison, WI

Yes,Yes its all lies. Accept the part about it eating grass. It's right here Genesis1:30 "And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so." Giant Rats 40million years old, no way. God, yes the bible told me so. LOL Wake up, fear is your only God.

Poseidon Ra Zeus, Mesa, AZ

This is a perfect example of the media taking a fictionalized account of an element in science and running with it. All that the scientists have found is a skull, not a rat the size of a car, just a skull. Second, the idea that it can be dated at 4 million years old is preposterous, there is no accurate way to date a fossil such as this with any real accuracy, not even within millions of years of accuracy. Third, I abhore the conjecture that "this creature could have weighed as much as a tonne, but other specimens could have been as big as 2.5 tonnes. It is nonsense. It is more likely that the average weight and size of these creatures is less than half what this specimen may have been. I hope for irony's sake that one day when the bodies of humans are exhumed by whatever creatures god grants dominance and intelligence to next, they point out the miniscule size of the human cranial cavity, perhaps a reason why "scientists" such as these thrive in our society.

Matt, henderson,

To Mr. Brian,

A Mammoth (not a Mastodon) was discovered in permafrost (not Rock). This is possible because ice slows decay, and that they died out a mere 10,000 years ago.

The dinosaur case you are thinking of was not soft tissue in the conventional sense (i.e., it wasn't a wet, soft, dinosaur heart or intenstine), it was, from my understanding, partially fossilized and needed to be de-mineralized, having been found in rock.

How does that disprove anything in this article?

Jon, NY/NY,

science will continue to find evidence of animals from ages past. because you can only use absolutes in science when they are assuredly true you must use phrases like believed to, is thought, could have, estimated, suggested. however you can draw a conclusion given actual evidence and make an educated deduction. viva science and truth.

noah strong, san luis obispo, california

Yes, this Quest for Right textbook looks positively scintillating. The abstract for ch. 3 of volume one promises new discoveries! : "The fact-finding investigation concentrates on the importance of the earth’s inner heat and reveals the hitherto unknown mechanism of said heat. The surprise findings, taken from the pages of the Bible, tighten the reins on those theorists who permitted their imaginations to slip past the boundaries of true science, beyond the pale of investigation. The vain assertions of geologists are pitted against classical physics, the old physics of cause and effect, and the scientific record of creation, the Bible." Ooh, academia awaits the book with breathless anticipation.

Michael, Dallas, TX

One of my favorite fossils (organic replaced by inorganic without human intervention) comes from Australia: once a felt hat, left in an opal mine for about 30 years.
I am continually amazed at the degree of perception that archaeologists have developed...to be able to extrapolate an animal from such a small amount of evidence. Perhaps their talents would pay better in the law enforcement arena...("DNA be damned, I found a [blank] and so-and-so did it"). Whatever happened to the "Scientific Method?"

j dreher, irvine, ca, usa

The "Princess Bride" talks about R.O.U.S.'s (rodents of unusual size). Now we have proof that the Princess Bride is more than just entertaining fiction...

Tom, Spring Coulee, Canada

Did they happen to mention the type of rock the fossil was found in? Many times the type of stratus will give more clues than what “might have been” or “could be” or what ever age guessing they are talking about.

So much for dating fossils when a mastodon was found with soft tissue in its bones. How can soft tissue survive for millions of years without a rabbit in a hat for an answer? Careful Fred Astaire somebody is getting ready to do a tap dance your way.

Brian, Augusta, USA

Read this article carefully. Note these words. About, probably, believed to, is thought, could have, estimated, suggested. Not one fact. Half way thru there are suddenly statements as though based on fact. In truth the statements are based on.........well, not fact. I hope you will think about it.

Janis, windsor, Canada

In concert with the story, the fossil record not only contained the remains of giant reptilian creatures but also a carnival of colossal mammals. While some were of the same familiar type as existing species, others represented hitherto unknown species. Of the familiar type were: Elephas Antiquus, a straight-tusked elephant that stood as tall as the eve of a two-story house; Dinohyus, an European pig nearly 3.3 meters (11 feet) in length and standing 2.1 meters (7 feet) high at the shoulders; Dinomys, a rodent that grew as large as a calf; Castoroides, a giant beaver 2.3 meters (7.5 feet) in length; Sthenurus, a 3 meters (10 feet) tall kangaroo; and Patriofelis, a variety of the common house cat the size of a bear.

Text taken from The Quest for Right, a new series of textbooks based on physical science, the old science of cause and effect. For more information, visit the QuestForRight.com website. Things will never be the same in academia after this.

C. David Parsons, Douglasville, Georgia