MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- The fossilized 2-foot-long skull of a one-ton rodent that roamed South America 2 million to 4 million years ago has been described by scientists in Uruguay.
Dr. Rudemar Ernesto Blanco of the Institute of Physics in Montevideo was one of the scientists to describe the animal in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, which said the rodent was likely about the size of a modern day bull.
The fossil was discovered by an amateur paleontologist in southern Uruguay, the journal said. It sat at the Museum of Natural History in Montevideo for three years before being studied and then determined to be a new species, Josephoartigasia monesi, the BBC reported Wednesday.
Blanco said the jumbo rodent lived alongside such predators as saber-toothed cats and carnivorous birds.
"If you are a rodent you cannot run so well so you would have had to fight with these predators," Blanco said. "It might have reached this size to protect itself."
