People living on the Solomon Islands in the Pacific Ocean long had spoken of a big, tree-dwelling rat called vika that inhabited the rain forest, but the remarkable rodent managed to elude scientists — until now.
After searching for it for years with cameras mounted in trees and traps, scientists said they finally caught up with the rat on Vangunu Island, part of the Solomon Islands, spotting one as it emerged from a tree felled by loggers.
It instantly joined the list of the biggest rats in the world, weighing about four times more than an ordinary rat and measuring about 1½ feet (half a meter) long.