06-29-2021, 06:16 PM
https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-ch...73986.html
A species of mouse believed to be extinct for over 150 years has unexpectedly been rediscovered by reseachers in Australia.
Academics from the Australian National University (ANU) examining DNA from eight different rodent species long believed to have been wiped out who compared their genetic code with that of 42 living variants found there was no meaningful difference between the supposedly-extinct Gould’s mouse and the Shark Bay mouse, still found in islands off the coast of Western Australia.
Dr Emily Roycroft, lead author on the ensuing report from the ANU published in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, said the findings were both exciting and sobering.
“The resurrection of this species brings good news in the face of the disproportionally high rate of native rodent extinction, making up 41 per cent of Australian mammal extinction since European colonisation in 1788,” she said.
Wow - and this isn't even the first finding of its kind this year: there was another one in the Philippines a few months ago. I guess Australia's vast enough that there's plenty of space for 'lost' species to be hiding .
Though, I do hope this one doesn't go extinct for real!
A species of mouse believed to be extinct for over 150 years has unexpectedly been rediscovered by reseachers in Australia.
Academics from the Australian National University (ANU) examining DNA from eight different rodent species long believed to have been wiped out who compared their genetic code with that of 42 living variants found there was no meaningful difference between the supposedly-extinct Gould’s mouse and the Shark Bay mouse, still found in islands off the coast of Western Australia.
Dr Emily Roycroft, lead author on the ensuing report from the ANU published in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, said the findings were both exciting and sobering.
“The resurrection of this species brings good news in the face of the disproportionally high rate of native rodent extinction, making up 41 per cent of Australian mammal extinction since European colonisation in 1788,” she said.
Wow - and this isn't even the first finding of its kind this year: there was another one in the Philippines a few months ago. I guess Australia's vast enough that there's plenty of space for 'lost' species to be hiding .
Though, I do hope this one doesn't go extinct for real!
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