Giant rat

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For the genus of giant rat, see Kunsia.
Nutrias are sometimes mistaken for the fearsome Giant Rat of Sumatra.
Nutrias are sometimes mistaken for the fearsome Giant Rat of Sumatra.

A giant rat is a rat that is substantially larger than its other rodent cousins. Rats of startling size do appear in nature such as the Gambian Pouched Rat, Cricetomys gambianus, adult specimens of which have been known to attain upwards of 3 feet (91 cm) in size from nose to base of tail; and the caviomorphs of South America regularly top the scales at over 200 lb (90 kg) in weight. However, the most noteworthy giant rats appear as monsters in fiction, role-playing games, computer games, and other venues of fantasy.

[edit] Sherlock Holmes and the Giant Rat of Sumatra

Perhaps the best known giant rat in fiction comes from the pen of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who in The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire has Sherlock Holmes declare, as an aside, to Dr. Watson:

Matilda Briggs was not the name of a young woman, Watson, . . . It was a ship which is associated with the giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet prepared.

Quite how the ship, the mammal, and the Indonesian island are associated is not specified. There are a number of species large rats on Sumatra, with one, Sundamys infraluteus, actually being referred to as the "giant rat of Sumatra". Rats commonly colonise ships, and so there is an obvious line of speculation.

Holmesianist Alan Saunders has argued [1] that the reference is in fact to events connected with The Adventure of the Dying Detective, although he identifies the rat as the Large Bamboo Rat. But a number of authors of Sherlockiana have endeavoured to fill in the blank and supply the missing adventure of the giant rat of Sumatra. These tales include:

  • The Holmes-Dracula File, a 1978 novel by Fred Saberhagen, in which Holmes and Dracula (who turns out to be related to Holmes) uncover a plot to destroy London with plague-bearing rats, the Giant Rat being a living plague vector.
  • The Giant Rat of Sumatra, a 1987 novel by Richard Boyer, which features the return of The Hound of the Baskervilles villain Stapleton. In this novel, the "giant rat" turns out to be a vicious tapir. (ISBN 0-586-20087-8)
  • All-Consuming Fire, a 1994 Doctor Who novel by Andy Lane, part of the New Adventures series; in this story, the Doctor joins forces with Holmes and Watson to confront Azathoth, an entity from H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. The giant rat is portrayed as an alien monster. (ISBN 0-426-20415-8)
  • The Giant Rat of Sumatra, a 2001 novel by Daniel Gracely (ISBN 0-9714041-0-0)
  • Sherlock Holmes and the Giant Rat of Sumatra, a 2002 novel by Alan Vanneman, (Published by Carroll & Graf, ISBN 0-7867-0956-1). The 'Matilda Briggs' does not appear in this book.
  • The Oriental Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, a 2003 collection of short stories by Ted Riccardi supplied an adventure involving the Giant Rat of Sumatra. (ISBN 0-9658164-3-5)
  • Sherlock Holmes' Lost Adventure: The True Story of the Giant Rats of Sumatra, a 2004 novel by Lauren Steinhauer. (ISBN 0-595-66386-9)
  • "A Father's Tale", a short story by Sterling E. Lanier, published as part of a collection of stories titled Sherlock Holmes, Through Time and Space, compiled by Martin Harry Greenberg and Charles G. Waugh, and edited by Isaac Asimov (ISBN 0-312-94401-2). The story is distinctive in that it is told from a distant, second-hand perspective and Sherlock Holmes is never identified by name.
  • The Tale of the Giant Rat of Sumatra, a 1974 comedy album by the Firesign Theatre (LP Columbia KC32730). This is a pastiche, with protagonists Hemlock Stones, the 'Great Defective', and his biographer and companion, Dr. John Flotsom, O. D., part of which takes place aboard the "Matilda Brigg". The name of this ship induces the group to perform the song Frigate Matilda (to the tune of Waltzing Matilda), which has become somewhat of a cult standard.
  • In Sherlock Holmes's War of the Worlds, Holmes mentions that Professor Challenger helped solve the case of the giant rat, although what the case actually was is not mentioned.
  • In the Basil Rathbone film Persuit to Algiers Watson tells the story of the Giant Rat of Sumatra to an audience on board a ship, partly using a stalk of celery to represent Holmes and a lump of cheese to represent himself (the celery being tall and thin, the cheese being short and fat).

The phrase was also used as a title for one of the books in the Hardy Boys juvenile mystery series. It was mentioned in the novel Watership Down in one of the rabbits' allegorical tales.

[edit] Other fictional giant rats

In recent weeks a rash of mutilated corpses -- many of them found near docks, subways, or sewers -- had garnered nothing but indifference from the NYPD. "Isolated and unremarkable" in the words of one police spokesperson. But while the police seem content to categorize these horrible crimes as nothing more than simple cases of homicide or suicide among the poor and indigent, eyewitness accounts tell a different and all together more frightening story. "'is a monster, 'nnit?" says Dickie Cork, a sailor aboard the Matilda Briggs out of Sumatra. "Thing looked like a rat, it did, only it was big, 'bout the size of a lion or sumthin'."

  • The Stephen King anthology Night Shift contains a short story, Graveyard Shift, later made into a movie of the same name, which climaxes with the revelation of a giant rat.
  • Giants Rats are enemies in the Fallout series of computer games.
  • The movie Willard (1971 film) and its 2003 remake featured a giant rat named Ben. He was also prominently featured in the 1972 sequel named after him.
  • The Trading Card Game Yu-Gi-Oh! has a card named "Giant Rat". When it is destroyed, its player can Special Summon 1 EARTH monster of 1500 ATK or less from their deck.
  • A giant rat is of the forty creatures in the video game Chaos.
  • A giant rat appears in the game RuneScape as a level 3 or 6 creature.
  • The New Avengers episode "Gnaws" features giant rats resulting from a growth serum being spilt into the sewers.
  • In Latitude Zero, there are some giant rats, as well as bat people and the Black Moth, which is a lion with giant condor wings and the brain of the Black Shark's commander.
  • In the book three skeleton key many large rats plague the protangonists
  • In the Elder Scrolls series of Video games, large rats may be encountered at any level. In The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, rats can be found in the wilderness areas and in caves and dungeons, whereas in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, rats are only found in sewers and dungeons. They, along with mud crabs, are usually nothing more than a nuisance.
  • In the Jet Li film Dr. Wai and the Scripture Without Words (ċ†’險王) a giant, mutant rat (frequently mistaken as some sort of marsupial) is encountered in the basement of a 1930's era Shanghai newspaper and complications ensue.

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