Mice Becoming Immune to Poison.

Scientists in the journal of Current Biology are reporting that a mice are mutating to become immune to common household mouse poison.

The discovery came after a German bakery reported mice that would not die after ingesting poison. The mice were taken to a lab and discovered to be strange hybrids that were resistant to warfarin, the toxic substance in most mouse poisons. The resistance to warfarin comes from a genetic mutation developed to help fight vitamin-K deficiency. The vitamin-K deficient mice then bred with common house mice and their mutant offspring were made.

The researchers hypothesize that part of why mice are becoming resistant is because of human’s overuse of poisons and every other anti-pest or anti-germ products. Putting down millions of pounds of antibiotics, pesticides, and poisons every year is casuing all sorts of mutations and hybridizations of plants, animals, and incects and this case is the perfect example. If poison resistant mice are “super-pests” than we can only blame ourselves.

Not only is mouse poison creating super-mice, it’s harming children, dogs, and cats. In 2009, 15,000 children ingested toxic rodent poison. In that same year, the ASPCA took 6,000 calls from people who’s dogs came into contact with with the deadly. So much suffering for nothing when you consider how easy and safe it is to use humane traps.

Even though they are the bizarre mutants of human’s overuse of pesticides and poisons, I think mice that can eat poison and keep on trucking are some of the coolest animals ever.