Spiny mice (Acomys) are gaining popularity as the new lab mice. #mouse #medicalresearch #biology

Added: 2026-05-17

[00:00:00]Move over, lab mice. There's another science rodent in town. Probably the most well-studied animal on the whole planet aside from humans is Mus musculus, or the lab mouse. These are what we call model organisms. They are pretty similar to humans, so we can use them to study diseases and test drugs without harming any humans. But there's another mouse species that scientists have begun to use as a model organism, the spiny mouse. There are a few species in this African genus Acomys, and they are built for survival. They are covered in spiny hairs, kind of like a porcupine, that help them deter predators, and they have bones in the skin on their tail, osteoderms, like a crocodile. But one of their most amazing adaptations is their ability to heal.

[00:00:42]Before we go any further, here's a content warning for injuries. The mice here recover their injuries, but it's pretty tough to look at. You know how lizards will shed their tails to escape predators? Well, spiny mice do that with their skin.

[00:00:57]Their skin just kind of kind of comes off. You can just pinch it and it'll come off. It's horrible.

[00:01:03]But they can heal from these injuries.

[00:01:05]They can fight off the infections, and their skin grows back without scarring.

[00:01:10]Just look at these pictures. Again, content warning. Scientists took a punch out of the ear tissue of a lab mouse and a spiny mouse and then let them heal for almost 2 months, and look at the difference. The lab mouse has a gnarly gauge, and you wouldn't even know that the spiny mouse got injured. It's completely healed. And it's not just their skin that can heal. They can also heal neural tissue, which has implications for studying neurodegenerative diseases. Their muscles also heal from injuries and from necrotizing snake venom, and their kidneys heal really well, too, which could possibly lead to cures for kidney disease. Scientists think that the secret to their superpower might be in their immune system. In the future, we might be able to control the human immune system to be more like the spiny mouse immune response and promote healing.

[00:02:03]Now, spiny mice do have a vulnerability.

[00:02:05]They are quite susceptible to diabetes, which makes them a fantastic model organism to study the progression and treatments for diabetes in humans.

[00:02:13]Another thing that makes them a fantastic model organism is that unlike lab mice, spiny mice menstruate.

[00:02:20]That's right. They have a period every 9 or so days that lasts for just under a day.

[00:02:25]Like humans, their weight, their activity, their eating habits, and their mood can fluctuate with their menstrual cycles. And there's even signs that they might have little mouse PMS.

[00:02:36]This makes them a better model than lab mice for studying human reproduction and reproductive illnesses that impact females. And scientists using them in drug testing can account for how drugs interact with hormones, which until embarrassingly recently was intentionally avoided.

[00:02:52]So, basically, studying biodiversity isn't just about studying other animals.

[00:02:56]It helps us, too.