Giant Beavers

New research suggests that giant beavers ate aquatic vegetation rather than tree bark/tissue, as modern beavers do. (News source.)

Chipmunk vs Toad

Chipmunks apparently have a taste for frog (or toad) legs... (News source.)

Squirrel vs Fruit Bat

Odd behavior noted by a biologist in Tanzania: a squirrel attacked a fruit bat. (News source.)

Mount Bosavi Expedition

A BBC documentary crew sent to PNG's Mount Bosavi found among other critters, a new species of frog (news source), and a new giant rat (news source).

Montague "Mouse" Mystery

Sightings of a strange rodent on Montague island, a nature preserve off the coast of New South Wales, after a massive pest rat/mouse eradication effort, has instigated a search to determine if it is a native rodent. (News source.)

Rat News

Someone caught a big rat (possibly a bamboo rat) in China, six pounds with a 12 inch tail. The image is the standard "hold it close to the camera so it looks bigger" style, but still interesting. (News source.)

A new species of mountain rat was discovered in Mindanao island, Philippines. (News source.)

Extinction Via Pathogen

Two native rat species on Christmas Island were extinct less than a decade after the introduction of the invasive black rat, but it wasn't competition that killed the species off. The black rat carried a pathogen for which the two native rats were not immune... (News source.)

Rediscovered Mammals

An Australian desert mouse thought extinct for 150 years was rediscovered in New South Wales. (News source.)

The Sumatran muntjac, a dog-sized deer, has been confirmed, after its last known sighting in 1930. (News source.)

Old Crypto Rat Story

In 1908, the native New Zealand rat was believed extinct. From a retrospective:

"Some little while ago Mr Robert Gibb, now Inspector of Apiaries, but formerly a school teacher with a decided leaning towards natural history, told a somewhat incredulous body of savants, through the columns of the Wyndham Farmer, that the native rat of New Zealand was not an extinct animal, as was generally supposed to be the case.
"He declared that he had seen the little rodents nibbling the roots and climbing trees in the native bush surrounding the school at Haldane, in the Waikawa district, and within half a mile of the sea coast, over which school he then presided.
"Mr Robert Hamilton, who resides in that district, corroborates Mr Gibb's statement, and declares that he has seen these animals frequently in the bush.
"They are, he says of a light greyish colour, and in shape resembling a cross between the common rat and a mouse.
"Mr Hamilton is confident that he can secure one or more of the animals alive."

Today, the rat has been synonymized with the Polynesian rat (Rattus exulans), so is no longer considered a distinct species.