The desert-inhabiting grasshopper mouse has managed to negate the pain caused by a scorpion's sting and managed to gobble it up.
If you're wondering how, then scientists believe it is courtesy of evolution that this survival tactic has helped grasshopper mice, that are found in the southwestern U.S. and Mexico, use the poison of the Arizona bark scorpion to numb the pain of the sting.
"This venom kills other mammals of similar size," said Ashlee Rowe, Michigan State University assistant professor of neuroscience and zoology. "The grasshopper mouse has developed the evolutionary equivalent of martial arts to use the scorpions' greatest strength against them."
The findings by researchers could be used by drug companies that are looking for a painkiller that does not lead to addiction. Per Unoversity of Texas at Austin's lead researcher Ashlee Rowe, the Arizona bark scorpion's sting can be lethal.
However, even despite several stings on its face, the grasshopper mouse paused briefly to groom itself and then resumed to attack the scorpion before finally devouring it.
In the research paper that was published in the journal Science, Rowe and his colleagues researched how it was possible for grasshopper mice to tune out the intense burning pain post the sting.
The researchers found that a modification was made to the mouse's pain receptors, which in turn made the venom act as a pain reliever rather than a stimulant. However, the scientists were baffled as to why the poison did not kill the mouse.
The researchers traveled to Arizona to collect grasshopper mouse and bark scorpion specimens to investigate further in a controlled environment. In the lab, they checked to see if the mice did not feel any pain from the poison at all or if they blocked it.
The scientists used a needle and syringe to inject the bark scorpion's venom or a saline solution into the mice's feet. They noted that the mice showed signs of acute pain when shot with the saline by licking the area where the injection was given.
"This seemed completely ridiculous," said Harold Zakon, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Texas at Austin, in a statement. "One would think that the venom would at least cause a little more pain than the saline solution. This would mean that perhaps the toxin plays a role as an analgesic. This seemed very far out, but we wanted to test it anyway."
Researchers opine that in grasshopper mice's "molecular and biochemical interactions between venom peptides and NAV 1.8 could serve as the basis for designing highly selective, nonaddictive analgesics."
Check out the video below which shows the grasshopper mouse gobbling up the venomous bark scorpion.
