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New species of aquatic mice discovered, cousins of one of the world's rarest mammals:
Ninety-three years ago, a scientist trapped a mouse in a stream in Ethiopia. Of all the mice, rats, and gerbils in Africa, it stood out as the one most adapted for living in water, with water-resistant fur and long, broad feet. That specimen, housed at Chicago's Field Museum, is the only one of its genus ever collected, and scientists think it may now be extinct. But in a new study in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, researchers have verified this semi-aquatic mouse's closest cousins, including two species new to science.
"These two groups of mice have been confused with one another for a century," says Julian Kerbis Peterhans, one of the paper's authors and a researcher at the Field Museum who's studied these rodents for over 30 years. "They've been so elusive for so long, they're some of the rarest animals in the world, so it's exciting to finally figure out their family tree."
"It's underappreciated how little is known about the biodiversity of small mammals, especially in tropical parts of the world. We're not discovering a whole lot of new lions, tigers, and bears, but there's an incredible potential for discovery of new species of small mammals because they're tough to find," says Tom Giarla, the paper's lead author and an assistant professor of biology at Siena College in New York. "And they're sort of underappreciated animals—they're really cool when you start to learn about their ecology. These are semi-aquatic mice, so they're not just your average, everyday rodents."
There are two main kinds of mice that the researchers focused on: Nilopegamys and Colomys. Nilopegamys (meaning "mouse from the source of the Nile") is the genus that's only known from one specimen collected in 1927; the genus Colomys is a little easier to come by, but still difficult to find. While Nilopegamys has only been found in Ethiopia, Colomys have been found throughout the Congo Basin and into the western part of the African continent.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 10 2020, @10:49AM
Ethanol_Propelled cannot swim! Nor can he jump, because, you see, certain racial groups, etc. and etc.. and that is not racist at all, but Ethanol-fucked still cannot jump, or swim. Or, apparently, even work for General Dynamics. Or what it Boston Dynamos? In any case, loser extrodiare. Way it always goes down for white boys: if it wasn't for the bosses hot wife who needed more "youthful enthusiasm", or the Uncle who could vouch for him being a "team player" and a "good sport", these poor white wastrels of the world would never land a job. Jared. And of course, Stephan Miller.
And the Round head, goatee, Miller.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 10 2020, @11:44AM
Muskrat love is a special thing in Arkansas, being at they are the only sentient beings in the state. And so, Runaway has only been satisfied with the lesser beavers. So Sad, so bad. I pathetic for the deplorable Muskrat fuckers.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 10 2020, @11:50AM
Do they have one, two or three buttons? Or are they gaming mice with many buttons??
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 10 2020, @06:38PM (4 children)
Where these animals can go after the Human population Doubles by 2050 to half the current size of the US?
https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/ethiopia-population/ [worldometers.info]
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Sunday October 11 2020, @06:26AM (3 children)
How come nobody researches how much of this population doubling is driven by foreign aid??
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday October 11 2020, @07:38AM (2 children)
Depends on the type of aid I suspect. Something that even inadvertently improves standard of living, wages, or female empowerment (including birth control and female education) is going to slow down population growth.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Sunday October 11 2020, @01:46PM (1 child)
It would, but bear in mind that 99% of Africa's population growth happened subsequent to foreign aid. Highest estimate from 1900 is about 10 million. For the entire continent.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday October 11 2020, @03:51PM
It's actually more like 93% (taking Africa's population to be 90 million in 1800 and 1.35 billion in 2020) and the assertion [reliefweb.int] that modern foreign aid started in the 19th century. And most of the era of foreign aid predates birth control which came onto the market in 1960. At that time, Africa had about 280 million people (79% by the above metric).
FWIW, Africa's population growth as a percent rate is significantly down from its 1950-1970 levels.