No one knows why the hero shrew evolved super spine strength and flexibility
That’s because bones react to repeated, high-magnitude stresses by building more bone. Just as humans lose bone mass during long periods of bed rest, similar changes may occur in the bones of captive hero shrews, which may offer clues into the how and why of wild shrews’ spines.
“A simple example is the right and left hand of professional tennis players,” Barak says in an email. “In their strong hand, the cortex of their radius is much thicker due to repeating high stresses.”Barak says that whereas the hero shrew’s adaptations are “definitely unique,” there are many other animals whose spinal structures have evolved in dramatic ways to accommodate their lifestyles.No giant and no elephants here.
Take the spine holding you up right now. By the time a person reaches adulthood, five vertebrae at the base of the spine fuse together to form a base for the vertebral column, called the sacrum. Such a permanent fusing—which helps support our upright posture—might be considered even more extreme than the hero shrew’s interlocking vertebrae, Barak says.
Nearly all mammals have seven vertebrae in their necks, but a few slow-moving species, such as sloths and manatees, have bucked that trend by evolving fewer or more vertebrae. That’s likely because their mostly
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