Discovery of the world’s highest-dwelling mammal
Discovery of the world’s highest-dwelling mammal
Abstract Environmental limits of animal life are invariably revised upwards when the animals themselves are investigated in their natural habitats. Here we report results of a scientific mountaineering expedition to survey the high-altitude rodent fauna of Volcán Llullaillaco in the Puna de Atacama of northern Chile, an effort motivated by video documentation of mice (genus Phyllotis) at a record altitude of 6205 m. Among numerous trapping records at altitudes >5000 m, we captured a specimen of the yellow-rumped leaf-eared mouse (Phyllotis xanthopygus rupestris) on the very summit of Llullaillaco at 6739 m. This summit specimen represents an altitudinal world record for mammals, far surpassing all specimen-based records from the Himalayas and elsewhere in the Andes. This discovery suggests that 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.
Storz Jay F.、Opazo Juan C.、Farson Matthew、Steppan Scott J.、Bowen Thomas、Quiroga-Carmona Marcial、D?ˉEl¨aa Guillermo
School of Biological Sciences, University of NebraskaInstituto de Ciencias Ambientales y Evolutivas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Austral de Chile||Millennium Nucleus of Ion Channels-Associated Diseases (MiNICAD)Modoc Medical CenterDepartment of Biological Science, Florida State UniversityDepartment of Anthropology, California State University ¨C FresnoInstituto de Ciencias Ambientales y Evolutivas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Austral de Chile||Modoc Medical CenterInstituto de Ciencias Ambientales y Evolutivas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Austral de Chile
动物学生物科学现状、生物科学发展生物科学研究方法、生物科学研究技术
Storz Jay F.,Opazo Juan C.,Farson Matthew,Steppan Scott J.,Bowen Thomas,Quiroga-Carmona Marcial,D?ˉEl¨aa Guillermo.Discovery of the world’s highest-dwelling mammal[EB/OL].(2025-03-28)[2025-05-23].https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.13.989822.点此复制
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