NEW SPECIES OF SUPER STRONG HERO SHREW DISCOVERED
The Hero Shrew's
extraordinary strength is down
to its unique spine A new species of the
mysterious "Hero Shrew" has
been discovered in Africa. Scientists first described the
Hero Shrew, nicknamed for its
extraordinary strength, over a
century ago. Now for the first time,
scientists have found a new,
smaller-skulled species of the
Hero Shrew which they have
called Scutisorex thori. The authors propose in Royal Society journal: Biology Letters that its unique interlocking vertebrae give it
the strength to move large
objects. Invincible in battle The new species has fewer
lower vertebrae and more
robust and flattened ribs than
its relative. Bill Stanley, from the Field
Museum of Natural History,
Chicago, US, said: "The
expanded backbone and the
strength of this animal has
fascinated biologists for over 100 years. Until now there has
been only one species known
with this bizarre vertebral
column. "We hypothesise that this
shrew - with its expanded
backbone and associated
musculature - can crawl in-
between the trunk and leaf
bases of trees to allow access to concentrated food
resources that would normally
be protected from predation. "The same mechanism could be
used for getting under logs or
rocks which they could lift
out of the way." The shrews have interlocking
vertebrae which form an
expanded backbone The unique Hero Shrew has
twice the number of lower
vertebrae humans do and a
spine four times more robust
relative to its body size. Its strength has received
legendary status in the African
Congo, where parts of the
animal are worn as a talisman
in battle. The wearers believe
it could make them invincible to spears or bullets. As no other forms of its
expanded back bone have
previously been discovered,
many zoologists believed the
Hero Shrew was an example of
punctuated equilibrium - which is where dramatic
evolutionary changes take
place very quickly. Missing link But Mr Stanley explained that
there are aspects of S. thori's
vertebral column that
"suggest it's a transition
between the regular shrew
and the original species of Hero Shrew", which could
shed light on how quickly it
evolved. He told BBC News it had the
potential to be a "missing link"
to how the Hero relates to
other shrews. "The age of discovery is not
over. People think we have
everything sussed out but the
collections contained within
institutions [such as the Field
Museum] allow us to figure out what makes this planet tick. "This is just one example of a
new mammal but there's still
a lot more to this planet we
have to learn about." Kristofer Helgen, of the
Smithsonian Institution's
National Museum of Natural
History, who was not involved
with the study, said it was an
"outstanding find". "The anatomy of this new
species gives important clues
about the evolution of the
unusually strong spine in this
group of shrews, and the
authors of the paper provide the first compelling
explanation for the adaptive
significance of the unusual
spine."
Created at 2013-07-25 08:22:14
Back to posts
UNDER MAINTENANCE