Meet Oscar. Oscar is the remains of a giant African rat that Derek found in their well. Helen being the artist she is saw a thing of beauty and to draw him so she left Oscar (well, he was not known as Oscar then so I guess I should just say “it”) out to dry out bit before starting to draw him – if indeed it was a “him”. She now keeps him in a shoe box but she brought him out today so that I could take photos. I’d heard about this fantastic creature that she’d found some time ago. She was convinced it was an alien or a new species of dinosaur but I was almost certain that it was just a giant African rat. She was a bit disappointed when I confirmed it. Helen’s Portuguese friend Bella decided that it needed a name so “Oscar “was deemed a good one. Oscar is stuck to the newspaper not that he really minds I guess. I’m not sure how much they depend on the well for drinking water but when I suggested that Oscar had been in there a while to decay that much Helen turned a little green. I would think they will be ok.
I know it’s a bit macabre but maybe I’ll get it printed and give it to Helen.
Oscar the giant African rat (skeleton)
I think I’ve turned a bit green and that rat didn’t come out of my well!
Can you give us an idea of size/scale?
Zoological name is Tricetomys gambianius. Males up to 794mm long and up to 2.8kg, females up to 711mm long and 1.4kg. So this guy was definitely immature.
All I can say, having read your later post, is Eish!