Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Is Climate Change Creating Mutant Rodents?

According to a relatively recent study by Oliver Pergams, a researcher at the University of Chicago: “Changes in the head shape and overall size of rodents has been linked to human population density and climate change.” Pergams found the size and head shape of rodents has shifted substantially during the last 100 years. “Species can adapt quickly to rapid environmental changes - quicker than many people have thought, especially for mammals,” Pergams explained. “Those mammals that can adapt quickly have a much higher chance to survive big environmental changes caused by humans.”

Rodent size is nothing new to Big Apple residents but dig this: A rat can fit through an opening that is just one half inch wide, can breath under water for two minutes, can swim for three days before it drowns, and can chew through concrete. In fact, when rats were pitted against college students to learn their way through a maze, the rats learned three times faster than the students.

If you’re still not feeling it for your average Norway rat maybe I should tell you that it’s the only animal other than man which has been scientifically proven to both laugh and dream.

Thanks to human-induced climate change, these captive rats may be dreaming of having a normal-sized head.

Ain’t progress swell?

(To borrow from Agent Smith in The Matrix: “Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment. But you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area.")

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Bonus links:

Edible nuts

Eat your legumes

(please vote for both of these posts)

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A poetic scolding


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Posted on 10/14 at 10:19 AM
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