In one scene, Mitchum's character is searching for food and hiding in a corner with his knife drawn waiting for two japanese guys to finish a game and retire. To his surprise a large rat-like animal walks by him and over him. Mitchum's character is non-plussed by the animal's presence, although he must remain quiet. The animal itself seems to be completely at ease with Mitchum. Can anybody tell me what kind of animal that was?
shareI always thought it was a rat.
"What's the boy word for 'slut'?"
I'm pretty sure it's not a rat. The body proportions seem to be all wrong for it to be a rat. It's undoubtedly related to a rat though. Any zoologists out there?
sharecouldnt have been a rat, it didnt have a tail. Or, it it was a rat that some how lost its tail... the proportions of legs & body still did not seem right for a rat.
shareI think the animal is a nutria. I've seen some nutria photos and they look like the animal Mitchum encounters in the movie. Nutrias are found all over the world, mainly in wetlands. I don't know how likely it is for them to inhabit Pacific islands. Then again, I don't know if the animal in the movie was native or simply provided by the movie producers. Nutrias look very similar to muskrats, except that muskrats have flattened tails somewhat like beaver tails.
Remember Seinfeld and the rat hat? Elaine's rat hat was made from nutria (and not a very good hat even by rat hat standards).
It's an agouti.
shareI thought it was an agouti too - although what a South American agouti was doing on a South Pacific island is questionable. I assume the creature is just meant to be a generic rat-like rodent.
shareIt was an agouti, common to Trinidad & Tobago, where Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison was filmed.
Agouti: http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&source=imghp&q=agouti&g bv=2&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=
I'm almost positive it was a "wharf rat", some of which can be quite large. If you don't believe me, just do a web search for pictures of them. I found one picture with a guy holding one that was so large, the picture must have been faked. Regardless, wharf rats (AKA brown rat, common rat, sewer rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat, Brown Norway rat or Norwegian rat) have bodies up to 10 inches in length with tails that can be as large. As for the rat being comfortable around Mitchum, well... rats can be trained ...and fed well before being used in a movie scene too.
shareI am TIRED of all the idiocy on this thread. This is NOT a wharf rat and NOT remotely an agouti but a COMMON OPOSSUM which is very native to Trinidad and excellent eating if you have ever lived down south.
share