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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

Scientists say that mice adapted to live alongside humans around 15,000 years ago [sciencerecorder.com], based on fossil evidence gathered in the Levant [wikipedia.org]:

New fossil evidence discovered by an international team of researchers shows that mice have been living alongside humans for the past 15,000 years, a new study [pnas.org] [DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1619137114] [DX [doi.org]]in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports.

Scientists believe mice first moved into human settlements in the Eastern Mediterranean region to steal wild grains and seeds that were stored by the ancient peoples that lived there. Though this began as simple scavenging, the rodents eventually took up residence in the grain stores and became house mice.

"Nowadays, thanks to this relationship, house mice have colonized almost every corner of the globe to become almost as ubiquitous as humans and also one of the most invasive mammalian species," said study co-author Dr. Thomas Cucchi of Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, according to BBC News [bbc.com].

Also at Washington University in St. Louis [wustl.edu].

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