Nearly blind mole rats use their eyes to detect magnetic fields

By Donna Lu

blickwinkel / Alamy

Distinct mammals are ready to detect magnetic fields, but the set up exactly the sense originates from has prolonged remained elusive. Now, the organ that homes magnetic sensors in mole rats has been identified.

Kai Caspar on the College of Duisburg-Essen in Germany, and his colleagues possess learned that the Ansell’s mole rat (Fukomys anselli) makes pronounce of its eyes for magnetoreception.

This species of mole rat, known for digging prolonged subterranean tunnels, has unhappy eyesight and little – but structurally intact – eyes. “They stay …