Marauding Mice

[deguspice]

Here's are two different articles reporting on the same research article involving mice, Vikings, and genetics.

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http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2012/03/19/Where-Vikings-went-mice-followed/UPI-41931332183015/#ixzz1pjC3oXVI

Where Vikings went, mice followed

Published: March. 19, 2012 at 2:50 PM

YORK, England, March 19 (UPI) -- When Vikings spread across Europe and into the New World, researchers say, they took one unintended "guest" along on their journeys -- the humble house mouse.

In addition to the domestic livestock such as horses, sheep, goats and chickens they took to colonies in Scotland, Ireland, Iceland, Greenland and possibly Newfoundland, they inadvertently took pest species such as mice with them, a study in the journal BMC Evolutionary Biology reported.

[...]

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http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/03/20/viking_rape_mice/

Horny VIKING MICE raped and pillaged Euro pipsqueaks

Tiny raiders revelled in 10th century rampages
By Anna Leach

Posted in Biology, 20th March 2012 14:28 GMT

Virile Norse mice rampaged through Scotland, Ireland and Iceland impregnating locals and mixing their Viking mouse genes in the native rodent populations, according to research published by the BMC Evolutionary Biology journal.

[...]

Comments

[galestorm.livejournal.com]

True to form, the first story told it well, and the second made it all sound like a video game.

I did enjoy the mouse in an ill-fitting helmet, though! :-)