The largest rodent that has ever existed is believed to have used its front teeth the way an elephant uses its tusks.
The rodent, called Josephoartigasia monesi, is a close relative of guinea pigs that walked the Earth three million years ago, the University of York reported. The giant animal had a body mass of up to 2,200 pounds and was about the size of a buffalo.
To make their findings, a research team used computer models to estimate how powerful the rodent's bite would be. They also performed CT scanning to create a virtual reconstruction of the rodent's skull. The reconstruction was then subjected to finite element analysis, which is an engineering technique that predicts stress and strain found in a complex geometric object. They determined the animal would have had an incredibly powerful bite at around 1400 N, which is about the same as a tiger's.
"We concluded that Josephoartigasia must have used its incisors for activities other than biting, such as digging in the ground for food, or defending itself from predators. This is very similar to how a modern day elephant uses its tusks," said Philip Cox, of the Centre for Anatomical and Human Sciences.
The findings were published in a recent edition of the Journal of Anatomy.
