Scientists discover mammal that was assumed to be extinct 11 million years ago

It was thought to have gone extinct 11 million years ago — a chipmunk-sized, brush-tailed rodent with a long head and quick paws well-suited for scooting across the rock escarpments of ancient China and Pakistan.

Then last year in central Laos, western scientists spotted an unusual animal carcass in a meat market near the Mekong River. So unusual, in fact, that it turned out to represent a new rodent family — the first new mammal family to be announced in 30 years. The researchers called it Laonastes aenigmamus, the Laotian "rock rat." Local people call it "kha-nyou."