By Susan Milius
The Laotian rock rat, which is very much alive, belongs to a rodent family that scientists had assumed had vanished 11 million years ago, says an international research team that examined DNA evidence. The family resemblance was also suggested from fossil evidence last year.
The Laotian rock rat (Laonastes aenigmamus), or kha-nyou, was new to science in 1996 when a wildlife-survey team bought some specimens in a food market in Laos. Since then, scientists have debated what sort of rodent it is, even proposing that it belongs to a new family of mammals.