Until this article I thought the platypus was the only venomous mammal. I do so like the NYT, at least once a week they increase my competitive edge in a pub quiz. Always a pleasure to find your knowledge on a subject to be doubled from their journalists within the first paragraph.
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That thing looks *exactly* like those Rodents of Unusual Size that terrorized the Fire Swamp between Florin and Guilder. R.I.P. William Goldman.
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A venom that lowers blood pressure?
I think we could use that.
Too bad this little critter will be extinct, soon.
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Fascinating creatures, given the countries they inhabit and the fate of island-dwelling species, I fear they are not long for this world though.
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The headline "How a Curious Mammal Evolved Its Venom" should read "How a Curious Mammal's Venom Evolved."
Furthermore:
"The researchers concluded that it is more likely that shrews and solenodons came up with the adaptation after they branched off from these other small mammals.But the fact that there is an overlap in these enzymes in two different animals implies that mammals have a very limited palette of options to work with when it comes to ginning up a venom."
Leaving out the question of human manipulation of genetic material, living forms do not "come up with adaptations."
Using phrases such as "come up with" and "have a very limited palette of options to work with" promotes a teleological fallacy
of agency that distorts the nature of evolution.
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The language of design is often used by biologists when referencing natural selection and adaptation. It is perfectly acceptable to use such language without implying a teleological process. In other words, design can easily be a backwards-looking process without any implied intelligence.
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@Duisendpoot
How about just using the language of natural selection and adaptation?
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"The last 500 years have seen the extinction of many prey species, like lizards, birds and other vertebrates, on their home island. This ecological destruction..."
This passage is relegated to the end. Talk about burying the lede.
Whenever I read stories like this about the plight of species and declining biodiversity, it actually brings to mind a moral: Homo sapiens would do well to stop thinking of ourselves as the most important species on Earth, with all of existence revolving around us. Otherwise one day we will wake up to find that we've turned a beautiful planet to live on into a relic of a time that we can never return to.
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@Dave Harmon
I agree.
I am sad to say that the scenario you predict has already probably happened.
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This truly is the beginnings of a mass extinction. Earths dominant species usually get a good million years first before they’re wiped out - instead we are ensuring one of the shortest destructions of a dominant species since life evolved on Earth
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