Tiny Mice Discovered at Altitudes Thought Uninhabitable For Mammals

[Judi Lynn]

NATURE
02 November 2023
ByRUSSELL MCLENDON



A view from the summit of Volcán Salín (Jay Storz, University of Nebraska–Lincoln)

Not much lives in the Puna de Atacama, a frigid moonscape high in the Andes with violent winds, meager oxygen, and virtually no water.

For some reason, though, mountaineering mice keep venturing to the summits of 6,000-meter (20,000-foot) volcanoes in this high desert plateau and surviving up there.

At first, archaeologists exploring the peaks in the 1970s and '80s found carcasses of the Punta de Vacas leaf-eared mice (Phyllotis vaccarum), which had mummified in the extreme conditions.

Reasoning the mice couldn't have made it there on their own, the archaeologists assumed they must have been brought up the mountains by ancient Inca people, who are known to have made long-distance pilgrimages to mountaintops they considered sacred.

More:
https://www.sciencealert.com/tiny-mice-discovered-at-altitudes-thought-inhabitable-for-mammals

(You've noticed all plant forms get smaller as you ascend mountains, too, just as they do as you travel north on flat land. )

[hlthe2b]

1. Yeah. My first thought was how tiny they must be.

Interesting. But certainly not a lot of predators up there.

I'd love to see their hematocrit and hemoglobin levels compared to the species at, say, 5-6K above sea level.