Fourth Grade
Worksheets
A One-Ton Guinea Pig in a Box!
If the idea of seeing a mouse makes you jump up on a chair, that's just one more reason for you to be grateful to live in the 21st century. Scientists have discovered a four-million-year-old fossil of a gigantic rodent. It was about ten feet long and five feet tall. It weighed nearly 2,000 pounds-big enough to crush most 21st century chairs!
It's really too bad that this large fossil spent so much time in a box. A fossil collector discovered the skull in Uruguay in 1987. He donated it to a museum. Strangely enough, the staff put the fossil in a box. Years later, the curator of the museum found the box and realized it held an excellent discovery. He began unraveling the mystery of the world's largest rodent.
The creature amazed the curator of the museum. He showed it to a fossil expert. Even though they only had the skull, the scientists realized that the creature was unique. The skull was larger than a cow's. It had 4-inch teeth. The curator said, "You feel the power of a very big animal behind this." The creature also received a big scientific name: Josephoartigasia monesi. He probably looked like an unbelievable cross between a hippo and a guinea pig.
