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Southern Grasshopper mouse: The tiny super-predator that howls at the moon before it kills (www.livescience.com)

submitted 7 months ago by recreationalplacebos@midwest.social to c/biodiversity@mander.xyz

8 comments fedilink hide all child comments

One of its favorite prey is the Arizona bark scorpion (Centruroides sculpturatus) — whose venom is potent enough to kill humans.

To get around this, the southern grasshopper mouse reduces the venom's effects by shutting down the chemical channel that transmits the pain signal to the brain when that particular venom is present. This means they are essentially numb to the pain — although researchers still don't know why the toxin isn't lethal to them.

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[-] Pandantic@midwest.social 22 points 7 months ago

Anyone curious about how their howl sounds: video

[-] thebardingreen@lemmy.starlightkel.xyz 8 points 7 months ago

That's the most adorable howl I've ever heard.

[-] Stalinwolf@lemmy.ca 3 points 7 months ago

Like a little dog whistle.

[-] grasshopper_mouse@lemmy.world 16 points 7 months ago

You called??

[-] threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 4 points 7 months ago

Account is 10 months old. Certified beetlejuicing moment.

[-] iAvicenna@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

The account owner was patiently lying in wait for this moment

[-] GluWu@lemm.ee 10 points 7 months ago

while members of this species can live in male-female pairs, this often ends in one killing the other

[-] dingus182@endlesstalk.org 2 points 7 months ago

this post was submitted on 21 Apr 2024

148 points (99.3% liked)

Biodiversity

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Biodiversity is a term used to describe the enormous variety of life on Earth. It can be used more specifically to refer to all of the species in one region or ecosystem. Biodiversity refers to every living thing, including plants, bacteria, animals, and humans. Scientists have estimated that there are around 8.7 million species of plants and animals in existence. However, only around 1.2 million species have been identified and described so far, most of which are insects. This means that millions of other organisms remain a complete mystery.

Over generations, all of the species that are currently alive today have evolved unique traits that make them distinct from other species. These differences are what scientists use to tell one species from another. Organisms that have evolved to be so different from one another that they can no longer reproduce with each other are considered different species. All organisms that can reproduce with each other fall into one species. Read more...

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