Article: Remarkable rats: "... most [of these Filipino rodents] look nothing like anyone's typical image of a rat. They range from large, furry, long-tailed leaf-eaters to tiny, mouse-like creatures that feed on soft-bodied soil invertebrates.".(Focus on Nature)

BIOLOGISTS are an odd lot--we often get intensely excited about things that leave other people shaking their heads. Who else would spend a couple of months each year in remote tropical mountain ranges, eagerly racing through a fog-shrouded forest at dawn to see what beautiful rats were caught in their traps overnight?

"Come again?" you might ask. "Did you say 'beautiful rats?' They're filthy disease-carrying rodents! Surely you mean beautiful birds or butterflies!" Not so, as the rats of the Philippines are marvelous, a superb example of how biological diversity is produced. There are at least 60 species, 58 of which live in no other country, and most look ...

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