| Cape spiny mouse | |
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Muridae |
| Genus: | Acomys |
| Species: | A. subspinosus
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| Binomial name | |
| Acomys subspinosus (Waterhouse, 1838)
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Extant (resident)
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The Cape spiny mouse (Acomys subspinosus) is a murid rodent found in the Western Cape province of South Africa. They have a dorsal covering of spiny hairs with dark grey-brown colouration, and a white underbelly. The Cape spiny mouse has large eyes and ears and a scaly, nearly bald tail that is brittle and can break off readily either as a whole or in part if it is caught. Their total length is 17 cm (6.7 in), with an 8 cm (3.1 in) tail, and they typically weigh 22 g (0.78 oz).
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Transcription
Narrator: Five years ago, biologist Ashley Seifert began to look at a remarkable species: African spiny mice. Ashley Seifert: what's sort of phenomenal is that they're able to regenerate complex tissue structures. So they can regenerate pieces of their skin that includes hair follicles and sebaceous glands, which are associated with the underlying dermis, the structural component, which gives it strength. And then in the ears, amazingly, they can regenerate cartilage. If you talk to an orthopedic surgeon he'll tell you that would be a huge advance if we could figure out how to regenerate cartilage in a mammal since we don't have any way to do that right now. In our spiny mice we punch a hole through the ear here and then we use that as our model to watch regeneration. We reconstruct that process through these pictures of the tissue as it regenerates. Narrator: Seifert's research is taking him and postdoctoral scholar Tom Gawriluk to Kenya for the summer. They will divide their time between trapping spiny mice in the wild and working with colleagues from the University of Georgia and University of Nairobi. Ashley Seifert: I was funded by NSF and the International Office of Science and Engineering...to go back and explore this hypothesis that... there's a bias in regenerators towards innate immunity and innate immune responses, where animals that can't regenerate tend to have a bias towards adaptive immunity and pro-inflammatory molecules. Tom Gawriluk: what we are expecting is that because the spiny mouse can heal its skin fully, is that they have a very robust innate immunity because we know that at least in other mammals, adaptive immunity...inhibits healing and it causes more scar formation....Hopefully this is going to give broader impact in terms of skin healing just in general for mammals to be able to heal a little bit better after we get cut or burned or something like that. Ashley Seifert: We also try to think about that in a ... clinical regenerative medicine context. So how can some of these discoveries or advances that we make potentially inform our development of new therapies to help humans.
Range
This species is largely endemic to the Western Cape province of South Africa; its range just extends into the Eastern and Northern Cape provinces. The extent of occurrence is greater than 20,000 km², and can occur up to about 1,000m above sea level.
Habitat
Its natural habitats are Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation and rocky areas. They are terrestrial and nocturnal, but can be active in early morning and late afternoon in shadows cast by rocks.
Behaviour
Cape spiny mice may live singly or in small groups. They feed almost exclusively on seeds, especially ant dispersed seeds of Restionaceae and Proteaceae with elaiosomes. The remainder of the diet consists of green plant material and insects, millipedes, and snails. In addition, the cape spiny mouse feed extensively on Protea humiflora flower.
Breeding
Rather than having one set breeding season, cape spiny mice are opportunistic breeders, only reproducing when they have sufficient food sources.[2] They produce litters of 2-5 pups.
Value
The cape spiny mouse contributes significantly to the pollination of Protea humiflora, and in turn gains the food resources that enable winter breeding. In addition to being a potential pollinator for a number of plant species, it also has a role in seed predation and hoarding in the fynbos, potentially contributing to the evolution of myrmecochory as a mechanism to evade rodent seed predation.
References
- ^ Palmer, G.; Midgley, J.; Pence, G.; Avery, M. (2017). "Acomys subspinosus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T275A110016981. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-2.RLTS.T275A110016981.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- ^ Fleming, P. A., and S. W. Nicolson. "Opportunistic breeding in the Cape spiny mouse (Acomys subspinosus)." African Zoology 37.1 (2002): 101-105.
- Chris Stuart, T. S. (Ed.). (1988). A Field Guide to Mammals of South Africa (3rd ed.). Cape Town: New England Publishing.
- "African spiny mouse." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 20 Feb. 2014. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/560260/African-spiny-mouse>.
- Schlitter, D. & Taylor, P.J. 2008. Acomys subspinosus. In: IUCN 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 21 February 2014.
- Musser, G. G.; Carleton, M. D. (2005). "Superfamily Muroidea". In Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. Mammal Species of the World (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 894–1531. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
- Fleming, P., Nicolson, S. (2011). Opportunistic breeding in the cape spiny mouse (acomys subspinosus
African Zoology, 37(1)
- Nel J.A.J., Rautenbach I.L. & Breytenbach G.J. 1980. Mammals of the Kammanassie Mountains, southern Cape Province. South African Journal of Zoology 15: 255–261.
- Breytenbach G.J. 1982. Small mammal responses to environmental gradients in the Great Swartberg of the southern Cape.MScthesis, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
- Bond W., Ferguson M. & Forsyth G. 1980. Small mammals and habitat structure along altitudinal gradients in the southern Cape mountains. South African Journal of Zoology 15: 34–43.
- Wiens, Delbert; Rourke, John P.; Casper, Brenda B.; Rickart, Eric A.; LaPine, T.R.; Peterson,J.; Channing, A: Nonflying Mammal Pollination of Southern African Proteas. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden Vol 70, number 1, 1983
- Bond W.J. & Breytenbach G.J. 1985. Ants, rodents and seed predation in Proteaceae. South African Journal of Zoology 20: 150–154
This page was last edited on 17 January 2024, at 23:21