Rodent's bizarre traits deepen mystery of genetics, evolution

[Mr. McD]

Purdue University research has shown that the vole, a mouselike rodent, is not only the fastest evolving mammal, but also harbors a number of puzzling genetic traits that challenge current scientific understanding.

http://news.uns.purdue.edu/UNS/html4ever/2006/060914DeWoodyVole.html

http://news.uns.purdue.edu/images/+2006/dewoody-voleLO.jpg

[Pharaoh]

1. my cat just killed one

I guess that one did'nt evolve enough:party:

[maxsolomon]

2. muriel volestrangler, please weigh in

that is one cute rodent. my cat would love to meet it.

[rzemanfl]

3. Didn't notice this was under "Science" and thought it was about

*.

[tocqueville]

4. as Dr DeWoody (!) says "better a whole vole than a mole in a hole" nt

[mom cat]

5. Be nice to the voles. When the world goes to hell (global warming)

in a handbasket, those little adaptable buggers will just mutate and adapt. The same cannot be said for us unadaptable humanoids "who just can't live without":
our SUVs
our ACs
our supersized everythings
out throwaway containers
etc.

Yep. The vole will outlive us all.

[Random_Australian]

8. That is only the subspecies, Personus Americanus, most of the rest of the

world already lives sans those four things. :)

[mainegreen]

6. A final "counterintuitive oddity" is that ... all voles look alike!

:rofl:
I love that.

[phantom power]

7. Wow. 17 to 64 chromosomes is quite a range for 2 megayears of deviation

[hunter]

9. There are a couple of things that are hard for people to accept...

That life has evolved to evolve, and that the earth's climate is controlled to a very large extent by the life upon it.

Both concepts imply that Nature will find ways to make our current human lifestyles intolerable. Germs will become resistant to antibiotics, insects will become resistant to insecticides, and that the climate itself will change in ways that make our industrial scale agriculture impossible.

In other words, there will always be a vole somewhere causing trouble.