That's a B - F - R! What are you afraid of?

I like roller-coasters. I'm not really afraid of heights, water, or bridges. I've jumped out of perfectly good airplanes on purpose! I don't mind the dark, as long as I have something soft and cuddly near by. Snakes don't scare me too much. I once had one for a pet. I was stung by 32 bees at one time. Hornet, Wasps.... been there and done that too. Big barking, drooling, mean dogs - as long as they're a safe distance from me are cool. Spiders - I'm not particularly fond of but give me a shoe or some tissue and I'll take care of them too; Generally, I have a healthy and cautious respect for things that can hurt or injure me and as I get older, I recognize that the list of those things is growing. But for the most part, I think I'm pretty normal and not really phobic about anything...



Except RATS.... ! Oh No! those things give me the heebie jeebies. When I was a kid, I liked the Michael Jackson song Ben until I found out it was about a rat. Then I threw the 45 vinyl record away. I Launched it like a Frisbee. I threw it off my back porch as hard as I could. It was a windy day and it sailed like crazy. It landed on some one's roof two streets away. To date, I still haven't seen the movie Willard. The movie Ratatouille was pushing my personal limits. I was bamboozled into seeing it and fortunately it was animated. Otherwise, I would have walked out. As it was, I think I had trouble sleeping afterwards.




All this to say that- while all of the people at Conservation International were all in a buzz today about all the cool new animals discovered in Indonesia - I held steadfast! I walked over to my big huge map of the world and put a big red X on the Foja mountain rain forest in Indonesia. This is a place I won't be visiting anytime soon. I love to travel and I was somewhat seduced by the thought of going to a place with cool undiscovered mammals. Then I saw the picture of this BFR. That's short for "Big Freakin' RAT!"

This giant rat is about five times the size of a typical city rat

Foja Mountains Indonesia

Holy "Rattus norvegicus" Batman! Look at the size of that critter! That's what I call a Jethro sized rat! This guy could no doubt give Josey's 4 cats - cadet, cali, snax, and trixie, a run for their money. And BellyDanceGirl, I'm sorry but if this guy gets loose in your city, you'd better hide your kitty.

For more on Conservation International and the other critters they discovered: Click Here -Giant Rat in Lost World

Michael Jackson performing Ben