Amami spiny rat / Tokudaia osimensis / Amami toge-nezumi / アマミトゲネズミ 森に生息する小型のネズミにはいくつかの珍しい点がある。名前の由来にもなっている背には棘状の毛が生えていて、幅2mm、長さ20mmほどになる。後ろ足は強く、カンガルーのように50cmほど飛べるので、ハブ等の毒蛇から逃げることができる。この棘まみれの生物の特に珍しい点は、生物の性別を決める2本の染色体のうち、Y染色体が消失している。絶滅危惧種のため研究が難しいが、学者はアマミトゲネズミが600万年から200万年前に徳之島で似たトゲネズミから分化したとされる固有種と推定している。
Title Amami spiny rat
- Kagoshima
- Topic(s):
- $SETTINGS_DB.genreMap.get($item)
- Medium/Media of Use:
- Pamphlet
- Text Length:
- ≤250 Words
- FY Prepared:
- 2022
- Associated Tourism Board:
- ippanshadanhojin amamioshima kankobussanremmei
- Associated Address:
- 14-10 Naze suehirocho, Amami-shi , Kagoshima
English
Amami spiny rat / Tokudaia osimensis / Amami toge-nezumi / アマミトゲネズミ
This small, forest-dwelling rodent is unusual for several reasons. It gets its name from the needle-shaped hairs on its back, which grow 2 millimeters wide and 20 millimeters long. Its strong hind legs allow it to jump like a kangaroo for distances up to 50 centimeters, which is how it escapes the venomous habu viper. But what makes the spiny creature particularly interesting is that it is born without a Y chromosome, one of the two chromosomes that determine the sex of most mammals. While its standing as an endangered species makes the Amami spiny rat a difficult subject for research, scientists have determined that it is an endemic species that separated from a similar spiny rat on the neighboring island of Tokunoshima between 6 million and 2 million years ago.