The tiny predator howls at the moon before killing. What is this creature (Photo, Video)

24/04/2024

The planet is inhabited by a strange and very dangerous miniature creature with the habits of wolves.

Join the technology.lt team!

Free schedule, earnings, many interesting activities. No experience necessary, just enthusiasm.

Interested? Fill out this form!

Millions of creatures live on Earth and some of them never tire of surprising scientists. For example, in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, there is a tiny predatory rodent that howls at the moon before killing – and it’s not a wolf at all, writes Live Science.

This is the southern grasshopper mouse, also known as the scorpion mouse (Southern grasshopper mouse, Onychomys torridus). These amazing predatory rodents are very small in size and feed on insects, other rodents, some plants and even poisonous scorpions. The southern grasshopper is a predatory rodent that is largely immune to scorpion venom, and their most interesting feature is howling at the moon like wolves do.

This species of mouse is an extremely aggressive predator that attacks almost everything in its path, even if this animal is significantly larger than itself. When food is particularly scarce, these animals can also resort to cannibalism.

The southern shrew stalks its prey, then captures and kills it with a bite to the head. One of the favorite victims of this species is the Arizona scorpion (Centruroidesculpturatus), whose venom is strong enough to kill humans but harmless to rodents.

Scientists have already found that the southern grasshopper has learned to reduce the effects of the poison by “turning off” the chemical channel that transmits the pain signal to the brain. In this way, the animals feel almost no pain. However, scientists are still trying to understand why the toxin is harmless to them. Sometimes these mice use a different strategy when hunting scorpions: they simply bite off the tail, depriving them of the opportunity to defend themselves with a sting.

No less surprising is the fact that the southern grasshopper howls before the Moon: it stands on its hind legs, raises its nose in the air and emits a tinny call that can be heard even at a distance of about 100 meters.

Based on 2017 According to a published study, the sounds made by grasshoppers are created in the same way as human speech or wolf howling – by creating tissue vibrations.

Researchers still do not know why they howl, but they believe that they “mark” their territory. The southern grasshopper is very aggressive and usually solitary – although members of this species can live in male-female pairs, this often ends up killing each other.

Comments