Were UK mice trying to reach Valhalla? - October 01, 2008
Posted for Laura Starr
What do tough Viking warriors and small furry mice have in common? Not much, I can sense you thinking. Not so. A study from the University of York has shown that where the Vikings travelled, their house mice followed. These little creatures' descendants might hold the key to revealing the Viking's movements around the world, a discovery which has attracted eager attention in the British press (Scotsman, Telegraph, York Press)
The study, published today in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, revealed that mice on the British mainland shared a common British heritage. Conversely, mice on the Orkney Isles, off the coast of Scotland, had a different genetic make-up. Those mice could be traced back to mice in Norway of the Viking lineage, suggesting that these mice crossed the North Sea hand-in-hand (foot-in-hand?) with the Viking explorers (BBC).
The team of researchers, led by Jeremy Searle, investigated the genetic heritage of the common house mouse, Mus musculus domesticus, which colonise homes and can quite easily be unknowingly transported. The mice only evolved into different strains after they had arrived in Western Europe around 3,000 years ago. As a result, the differentiated strains can be a useful indication of where humans travelled and settled.
Work using these globe-trotting mice doesn’t stop there - the researchers are convinced that this method of research has a huge potential in revealing the patterns of human migration across the world.
Image: Wellcome collection
