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New Shrew Has Spine of Steel
sciencehabit writes "It's the size of large rat, but it can reportedly withstand the weight of an adult man standing on its back. Meet the hero shrew, a molelike creature that owes its near-mythological status to a remarkable spine, thickened by extensions of bone that interlock like fingers. The structure was thought to be unique among mammals — until now. An international team of researchers in the village of Baleko, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, made a surprising find: a slightly different shrew with a similarly 'heroic' backbone. Today in Biology Letters, they introduce Thor's hero shrew (S. thori), named for mammalogist Thorvald Holmes, but invoking the Norse god of strength. The researchers don't yet know how its strength compares to that of S. somereni. After exploring the shrews' swampy palm forests habitat, the researchers also have a new guess about why the spine evolved: They suggest that the creatures might wedge themselves between the trunk of a palm tree and the base of its leaves, then use the strength and flexion of their muscular spine to force open this crevice, revealing insect larvae—a food source that other animals can't access."
The snakes which prey upon it appreciate all of its better qualities.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
There will be no taming of this shrew!
They suggest that the creatures might wedge themselves between the trunk of a palm tree and the base of its leaves, then use the strength and flexion of their muscular spine to force open this crevice, revealing insect larvaeâ"a food source that other animals can't access."
Yeah.. it could be that. Or, "ZOMFG WHAT IS THAT!?" (stomp) "ITS NOT DYING! DAMN YOU EVOLUTION... Daaaaaamn yoooouuuuuuu...."
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
spinal compression add on the side bar... if only a tenth of the time / money put into advertising was diverted to FOSS. spent hours in a meeting yesterday for software to monitor aquatic mammals, and they kept going on and on about how you have to have a trained operator. kept showing screen shots of hydrophone input with obvious patterns, but when i asked if they were developing software to take the human factor out i was told the technology doesn't exist which is bs. PS. i mod myself off topic.
An I.T. motto in the hands of an idiot is a dangerous thing...
Somewhere in a top secret government research lab, nestled in the hills of Canada next to a hydroelectric power plant, lies an organization that is grafting adamantium to the spine of these poor shrews.
sudo make me a sandwich
Left disappointed.
My dog loves shrews. She hunts them relentlessly. She likes rodents in general but shrews seem to be her favourite. There was a week last winter where she was eating two or three of them a day. It's disgusting but hey, she's a dog.
The funny thing is shrews fight back. Of all the rodents she's hunted over her long, illustrious life, shrews are the only ones that ever bit her back. Well, that snapping turtle got her but she wasn't trying to eat it, she was just curious. And she only got too close because I was patting it so she thought it was safe.
(yes I know it's a different species of shrew, but that's less funny)
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is kinky.
my classmate's step-mother makes $77 every hour on the computer. She has been without wovrk for 5 months but last month her income was $15088 just working on the computer for a few hours. Read more on this web site...... bay92.com
"The structure was thought to be unique among mammals — until now."
-_-
The researchers don't yet know how its strength compares to that of S. somereni.
In other words, they are currently writing up a research grant proposal that allows them to travel the world stepping on shrews. FOR SCIENCE!!!
seriously, is nobody trying to actually RTFA?
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
You're burying the lede. The real discovery here is the name Thorvald Holmes.
Sorry article but Thor is not the Norse god of strength, that's Magni the god of strength and brute force and son of Thor with is the Norse god of thunder.
Here's the thing I don't like about how evolution is presented...
researchers also have a new guess about why the spine evolved: They suggest that the creatures might wedge themselves between the trunk of a palm tree and the base of its leaves, then use the strength and flexion of their muscular spine to force open this crevice, revealing insect larvae
Um, no. The spine did not evolve to meet the needs of the animal, the animal is alive because it had the traits needed to live. This would make much more sense if the statement was that "researchers also have a new guess about why the species thrived while others died."
The way evolution is presented by most media makes it seem like after a species goes for a few generations it gains some ability like how one can gain a power up in a video game; "Ok... humans make it to the next level... they can either run faster, see further or have faster reflexes.... what will it be?"
If this animal didn't have the ability to do what it does then it would have probably failed and we would know it now as a collection of bones in some natural history museum instead of a living creature. Now, this is also to say that those with mutations that gave them a stronger spine would be more likely to survive but it's not as if the species had control over the evolution of the spine itself.
and still waiting for the Stainless Steel Rat movies,
Please
...and she's not a *new* shrew by any measure.
Dark Reflection
Shrew, that is; article naught.
http://news.sciencemag.org/evolution/2013/07/scienceshot-new-shrew-has-spine-steel
Anyone else read that in Morgan Freeman's voice?
True Facts
> They suggest that the creatures might wedge themselves between the trunk of a palm tree and the base of its leaves, then use the strength and flexion of their muscular spine to force open this crevice, revealing insect larvae—a food source that other animals can't access."
shrewd move
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
not the egg?
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
....but invoking the Norse god of strength.
Magni, son of Thor, was the Norse god of strength... not Thor. Magni was stronger at 3 nights old, then Thor was in his prime.
Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
The structure was thought to be unique among mammals — until now.
How does the Shrew change that? Isn't it a mammal?
Now that society is all ferrocrete and stainless steel there are fewer gaps in the joints...Only a stainless steel (shrew) can be at home in this environment.
Thanks to Harry Harrison for predicting this one.