Bizarre Beasts Pin: Spiny Mouse

Spiny mice look a lot like regular mice, but they have secret body armor in the skin of their tails made of overlapping bony plates called osteoderms. This weird trait is shared by all four of the spiny mice genera in the subfamily Deomyinae, but not by their closest relatives, the gerbils, or by very many other mammals.

While osteoderms are common in reptiles and amphibians, both living and extinct, the only other mammals we know of with osteoderms are armadillos, some giant ground sloths, and one strange, ancient hedgehog-like animal from the early Eocene.  

DETAILS

• Dimensions: 1.25" long (3.175cm)
• Double-pin posts and butterfly clasp
• Designed by Dominique Ramsey. 
• Some very lucky recipients might receive an Uncommon or Rare variant of this pin.