Blinde mice can 'see' with their ears(first rodent to do so)

[FfFfFfFF 58,083]

Under the cover of darkness in the mountainous forests of East Asia, Chinese pygmy mice emerge from the trees to scurry about the branches and forest floor, scarfing up berries, seeds, and insects. What makes this remarkable is that these animals are almost completely blind.

So how do they get around? New research published today in the journal Science shows conclusively that they echolocate: the mice get a sense of their surroundings and navigate by sending out high-frequency squeaks, then listening for the echoes that bounce off nearby objects. 

Previous work suggested that another tree-climbing relative in the same genus, the Vietnamese pygmy dormouse, could likely echolocate. But this is the first study to pull together various lines of evidence and prove beyond a doubt that the ability is present in all four species of the genus Typhlomys, also known as soft-furred tree mice.

“Echolocation in all species of the genus indeed surprises us,” says Peng Shi, the study’s senior author, a researcher with the Kunming Institute of Zoology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

To date, there are only two well-studied groups of echolocating mammals: bats and cetaceans, which include whales, dolphins, and porpoises. There’s some evidence that shrews and tenrecs—a diverse group of small mammals endemic to Madagascar—can echolocate, though almost certainly not as effectively as bats and cetaceans. Shi says that this ability has likely evolved independently in five different mammalian lineages.

Several types of birds, including oilbirds and swiftlets, use a more rudimentary form of echolocation.

Source - https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/animals/2021/06/these-blind-mice-can-see-with-their-ears-a-first-among-rodents

 

[RAMROD 117,011]

So, do you have this super power too, @Mer Boy???

[Rat Boy 43,832]

7 minutes ago, RAMROD said:

So, do you have this super power too, @Mer Boy???

No. Mice are like the Madonna’s of the rodent world - they invent/do everything before the rest of us reductive rodents.

[RAMROD 117,011]

4 minutes ago, Mer Boy said:

No. Mice are like the Madonna’s of the rodent world - they invent/do everything before the rest of us reductive rodents.

Those damn mice! **shakes fist*

[Lucas 31,101]

Not my poor hungry ass reading echolocate as e-chocolate 
Anyways it's impressive how nature always finds a way