The Ruc still eat rats 'extinct 11 million years ago'

For Ruc people in Oon village (Quang Binh), the once-extinct stone mouse 11 million years ago is still living in a mess, used by them as daily food!

>>>Discovering 'extinct 11 million years' rock mouse

Catch it often

We arrived at On village (Thuong Hoa commune, Minh Hoa district, Quang Binh province) after getting information that scientists have discovered rock mouse (scientific name Laonastes aenigmamus ) is said to be extinct 11 million ago. year.

For scientists, this can be considered an important finding, but for the Ruc people here, this animal is not strange at all, because it is the Ka Khac (monkey mouse - Ruc people call so they still set traps to make daily food like other rats .

The Ruc people still set traps and often caught rock rats that were thought to be extinct.

Knowing that we went to find out about the newly discovered rock mouse, Mr. Cao Xuan Chai (a Ruc man in the village of On) enthusiastically led to the place where the traps were located on the vertical stone stand where he last week has just caught a King of the Buddha . Mr. Chai said, when he was a child, when he was together with a beetle (his parents) in a cave, he often trapped the Ka Ka.

Mr. Tran Xuan Tu - Head of On Village also affirmed that many people in the village still catch the Ka Ka Khac.'The villagers ate, I also ate because I thought it was normal mice. Until a delegation said that scientific researchers brought photos to their relatives, said that the extinct species no longer exists on the earth. They told the villagers to have traps to keep a child.

The specimen was collected in the On village

Last day Mr. Cao Xuan Yen trapped two children, we immediately called them up. They saw the animals very happy, saying that these are the animals that they thought were no longer existed 11 million years ago (they said based on the fossil pattern) - Mr. Tu said.

Emergency conservation

According to Mr. Tran Xuan Tu, in the past, at this time (in July, August of the lunar calendar), the villagers often caught a lot of Ka Ne Khon, but in recent years, although they still caught, they were less and less. This proves that this species has become increasingly scarce, without propaganda, sooner or later education will fall into extinction.

'Before, I didn't know, but now I know, this is a very precious species, so I will also tell the villagers its rareness without trapping to eat meat' - Mr. Tu said.

Talking to us, Mr. Phan Hong Thai - Head of Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park FPD affirmed: 'The recognition of this rock mouse has contributed to confirming the high biodiversity of Phong Nha - Ke National Park. Bang; providing more information for scientists to study evolution and especially the theory of 'reincarnation in biology'. We will have a plan to propagate and motivate Ruc people in the village, Do not set traps to catch these rats to eat anymore '.