Thumbs up!
Ok. I have two things for you today that you may not know (I certainly didn’t). First, rodents are the most common mammal on the planet. Forty percent of all mammals are rodents. If that stat freaks you out, keep in mind that there are many, many species of rodent, including chipmunks, squirrels, porcupines, and beavers, just to name a few. So we’re not talking just mice and rats. But still, that’s a pretty amazing fact, if you ask me.
The second thing is what made rodents so successful. It’s all down to their thumbnails, at least according to a paper that came out in Science last week. OK, so maybe there’s a third thing: They have opposable thumbs (or at least 86 percent of rodent species do). That thumb is the superpower that made it possible for them to take over the world — or at least to live in almost all of it. With its hard nail, rather than a claw, the thumb makes it easier for them to grab tasty tidbits, like nuts and small seeds, and stuff them into their mouths. That means rodents can be very versatile in what they eat. And that means the world is their oyster. Well, no. Just like us, they would need an oyster knife for that.
Stay curious,
Avery