Mouse Hanging Out Atop 22 000-foot Volcano Called World s Highest-dwelling Mammal
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This is the record-breaking yellow-rumped leaf-eared mouse captured near the summit of the Llullaillaco volcano on the border of Chile and Argentina.
Marcial Quiroga-Carmona/Austral University of Chile
The world's highest summits aren't as desolate as scientists once thought. During a mountaineering expedition in northern Chile earlier this year, researchers spotted and tour cửu trại câu giá rẻ captured a yellow-rumped leaf-eared mouse atop the 22,000-foot summit of Volcan Llullaillaco.
The mouse broke the world record for the highest-dwelling mammal documented by scientists to date. Last year, the same species of mouse was [ spotted at 20,340 feet].
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In a [ study published Thursday] in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, university researchers from the US and Chile document their rodent discovery and explain that it could help scientists better understand how mammals adapt to and survive harsh conditions at high altitudes.
This high-altitude survey map shows the places visited during the expedition to capture rodents, which include (A), Volcan Llullaillaco (B), Region de Antofagasta, Chile. (C) is a view of Volcan Llullaillaco from the west.
Jay Storz
"The discovery suggests we may have generally underestimated the altitudinal range limits and physiological tolerances of small mammals simply because the world's highest summits remain relatively unexplored by biologists," the study says.
The yellow-rumped leaf-eared mouse (Phyllotis xanthopygus rupestris) dwells high in the Andes mountains but also lives at sea level, which makes it an interesting mammal for scientists to study.
"That wide of a range is extraordinary," Florida State University biology professor [ Scott Steppan] told National Geographic. "No other species does that."
