😲🐭🛡️ Bumbai You Know: Da Mouse Stay Hide Him Armor Unda Da Tail All Dis Time!

Eh, you guyz! Listen dis one. Researchers jus wen find out dat da spiny mouse stay hiding some bony plates unda da skin of him tail. Choke crazy, yeah? 😯

First look, da buggah jus seem like one mo’ hairy kine rodent. But, auwe, dis spiny mouse get plenty secrets. Found all ova da rock outcrops tru out Africa and Europe, da mouse’s back stay full with porcupine-like quills made of hard kine fur. Get soft, easy fo’ rip skin and one crazy kine ability fo’ regrow, jus like one desert gecko species. Now, da researchers wen give us one nodda surprise in da journal iScience on Wednesday: Dey tails stay lined with osteoderms, or bony plates. Dis make ’em only da second group of living mammals known fo’ get underskin armor like one armadillo. 🐁🛡️🦎

Eh, spiny mice stay well-known and commonly used in all kine lab experiments. But, no one wen notice they had dese tings,” says Edward Stanley, one biologist at da Florida Museum of Natural History and one author on da study. 🧪🔬📚

Da discovery wen come wen Stanley was CT scanning specimens fo’ da openVertebrate Project. Dis project one effort fo’ build one public online database of 20,000 vertebrate specimens from museum collections all ova da United States. X-rays of da mouse’s tail wen make him take pause: Dey reminded him of da lizards he had work on fo’ his Ph.D. But da only living mammals wit known osteoderms was armadillos. 😮🦴🖥️

“I know enough about osteoderms dat it’s one fairly unknown ting fo’ rodents fo’ have dem,” Dr. Stanley said. Da discovery was one lucky chance, says Malcolm Maden, one biologist wit da University of Florida and an author on da study. Dr. Maden already had one long time research project built around spiny mice, focused on their amazing ability fo’ regrow skin, muscle, nerves and parts of their spinal cord. Da researchers joined forces, studying how da osteoderms developed ova one mouse’s life span and sequencing da species’ RNA in an attempt fo’ identify da genetic switches responsible fo’ da bone armor’s development. 🐭🧬🔍

Dr. Stanley also scanned specimens of da spiny mouse’s closest relatives — da link rat, brush-furred mouse and Rudd’s mouse. He found dat all tree also had armored tails, while more distant relatives did not. Da discovery suggested dat one common ancestor of all four species possessed da trait. 🐭🐀🧫

Da purpose of da osteoderms no stay clear. Spiny mice may use dem fo’ protect demselves from predators while burrowed in crevices, Dr. Stanley said. Anodda possibility: While da mice’s skin tears easy, da armor might help protect da inner tail structure, like wearing chain mail under an easily-removed glove. 🛡️🕳️🧤

Osteoderms have re-evolved at least 19 times in different lineages of animals, Dr. Maden said. Dey often found in reptiles such as lizards, crocodiles and nonbird dinosaurs. Dey also been found in a few extinct mammal groups, like big kine armadillo relatives called glyptodons and giant ground sloths — whose skin armor da spiny mouse’s closely resembles. 🦎🐊🦖

Finding osteoderms in one fast-breeding, easily maintained animal like one mouse could help unlock how and why da forces of evolution have continually produced underskin bone armor, Dr. Maden said. Now dat they have narrowed down a list of genes dat might be responsible for dis trait, dey can try fo’ produce osteoderms in lab studies. 🧬🔬📈

“I want to work out what genes are responsible for making osteoderms and then make one lab mouse with armor plating,” Dr. Maden said. Da building blocks for osteoderms might be in da heads of vertebrates, Dr. Stanley said. The vertebrate skeleton is largely formed of cartilage that grows bonier over time — but the skull bones form through hardening collagen, which the team suggests might have been repurposed from the armored heads in early lineages of fish. 🐠💀🧩

“If you can grow one skull, you get the genetic architecture to grow bones in your skin,” Dr. Stanley said. The trick will be to use genomics to figure out whether the mice’s tail osteoderms form like their skulls. “That would lend credence to the idea that osteoderms went from armor, to skulls, back to armor.” 🧠🦴💡

It’s also possible dat osteoderms, which are generally tucked discreetly unda fur and skin, may be considerably more common in mammals than generally thought: Nobody has actively gone looking for dem, Dr. Stanley said. It took exploratory science like the openVertebrate Project to find dem, he noted. Dr. Stanley hopes data from the project will lead to similar discoveries. 🕵️‍♂️🔎📊

“Building that kind of accessibility to museum samples and the digital data pulled from them will have benefits for all kine of fields,” Dr. Stanley said. “Aftah all, we no wen know what we were about to find.” 🏛️🗂️📲 So, stay tuned, braddahs and sistahs. Da world of science neva stop with the surprises! 🌍🌈🔭

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NOW IN ENGLISH

😲🐭🛡️ Surprise in a Tail: Mice Have Been Hiding Armor Beneath Their Tails All Along!

Hey folks! Have you heard this one? Researchers just found out that the spiny mouse has been hiding bony plates under its tail skin. Pretty wild, right? 😯

At first glance, this critter just looks like a fuzzier kind of rodent. But, hold on, this spiny mouse has a ton of secrets. Discovered across rock outcrops in Africa and Europe, the mouse’s back is full of porcupine-like quills made from rigid hair. It has soft, easily torn skin and an incredible ability to regenerate, just like a species of desert gecko. Now, researchers have shared another surprise in the journal iScience on Wednesday: Their tails are lined with osteoderms, or bony plates. This makes them the only second group of living mammals known to possess underskin armor like an armadillo. 🐁🛡️🦎

Spiny mice are well-known and commonly used in all sorts of lab experiments. But, no one had ever noticed these plates,” says Edward Stanley, a biologist at the Florida Museum of Natural History and an author of the study. 🧪🔬📚

The discovery happened when Stanley was CT scanning specimens for the openVertebrate Project. This project is an effort to build a public online database of 20,000 vertebrate specimens from museum collections across the United States. X-rays of the mouse’s tail made him stop: They reminded him of the lizards he had studied for his Ph.D. But the only living mammals with known osteoderms were armadillos. 😮🦴🖥️

“I know enough about osteoderms that it’s rather unusual for rodents to have them,” Dr. Stanley said. The discovery was serendipitous, says Malcolm Maden, a biologist at the University of Florida and an author of the study. Dr. Maden already had a long-standing research project centered on spiny mice, focusing on their remarkable ability to regenerate skin, muscle, nerves, and parts of their spinal cord. The researchers joined forces, studying how the osteoderms developed over a mouse’s lifespan and sequencing the species’ RNA in an attempt to identify the genetic switches responsible for the bone armor’s development. 🐭🧬🔍

Dr. Stanley also scanned specimens of the spiny mouse’s closest relatives — the link rat, brush-furred mouse, and Rudd’s mouse. He found that all three also had armored tails, while more distant relatives did not. The discovery suggested that a common ancestor of all four species possessed the trait. 🐭🐀🧫

The purpose of the osteoderms isn’t clear. Spiny mice may use them to protect themselves from predators while burrowed in crevices, Dr. Stanley said. Another possibility: While the mice’s skin tears easily, the armor might help protect the inner tail structure, like wearing chain mail under an easily-removed glove. 🛡️🕳️🧤

Osteoderms have re-evolved at least 19 times in different lineages of animals, Dr. Maden said. They are often found in reptiles such as lizards, crocodiles, and nonbird dinosaurs. They have also been found in a few extinct mammal groups, like large armadillo relatives called glyptodons and giant ground sloths — whose skin armor the spiny mouse’s closely resembles. 🦎🐊🦖

Finding osteoderms in a fast-breeding, easily maintained animal like a mouse could help unlock how and why the forces of evolution have continually produced underskin bone armor, Dr. Maden said. Now that they have narrowed down a list of genes that might be responsible for this trait, they can try to produce osteoderms in lab studies. 🧬🔬📈

“I want to work out what genes are responsible for making osteoderms and then make a lab mouse with armor plating,” Dr. Maden said. The building blocks for osteoderms might be in the heads of vertebrates, Dr. Stanley said. The vertebrate skeleton is largely formed of cartilage that grows bonier over time — but the skull bones form through hardening collagen, which the team suggests might have been repurposed from the armored heads in early lineages of fish. 🐠💀🧩

“If you can grow a skull, you have the genetic architecture to grow bones in your skin,” Dr. Stanley said. The trick will be to use genomics to figure out whether the mice’s tail osteoderms form like their skulls. “That would lend credence to the idea that osteoderms went from armor, to skulls, back to armor.” 🧠🦴💡

It’s also possible that osteoderms, which are generally tucked discreetly under fur and skin, may be considerably more common in mammals than generally thought: Nobody has actively gone looking for them, Dr. Stanley said. It took exploratory science like the openVertebrate Project to find them, he noted. Dr. Stanley hopes data from the project will lead to similar discoveries. 🕵️‍♂️🔎📊

“Building that kind of accessibility to museum samples and the digital data pulled from them will have benefits for all kinds of fields,” Dr. Stanley said. “After all, we didn’t know what we were about to find.” 🏛️🗂️📲 So, stay tuned, folks. The world of science never stops surprising us! 🌍🌈🔭