From “Biologist Discovers Mammal With Salamander-Like Regenerative Abilities” (Science Daily, Sep. 26, 2012), we learn,
“The African spiny mouse appears to regenerate ear tissue in much the way that a salamander regrows a limb that has been lost to a predator,” said Ashley W. Seifert, a postdoctoral researcher in UF’s biology department. “Skin, hair follicles, cartilage — it all comes back.”
That’s not the case in other mammals, he said. Usually scar tissue forms to fill the gap created by a wound.
The spiny mouse also regrows tissue on its main body when injured but not as completely as it does in its ears. “On their backs, they regrow hair follicles and skin, but the muscle beneath the skin doesn’t regenerate,” Seifert said.
Seifert was studying scar-free healing in amphibians when a colleague told him that a small rodent he had observed in Africa seemed capable of autotomy, a defense mechanism whereby the animal self-amputates a body part to escape a predator.
“Autotomy in skinks, geckos and some salamanders is well known,” Seifert said. “But it is very rare in mammals, and so far we’ve only seen it in a few rodents that can jettison their tail.”
This mammal that regenerates (sort of) is right up there with the lizard that uses a placenta (sort of).
Needless to say, medical doctors are interested.
Photo credit: Sinai Stachelmaus ”(Acomys dimidiatus)” Source/Quelle: Fotografiert von [http://www.tierlexikon.ch Marcel Burkhard alias cele4] {{cc-by-sa-2.0-de}}