Hotter weather thickens the blood of wild mammals: in a world first we traced this in African striped mice using 12 years’ worth of blood samples

African striped mice are used to desert conditions but are showing dehydration as climate change heats up their environment.

By: Lindelani Makuya, Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS); University of the Witwatersrand; Antoine Stier, Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), and Carsten Schradin, Université de Strasbourg; University of the Witwatersrand, The Conversation

Outlets: The Conversation

Published: January 6, 2026

Words: 1,340

Last Updated: 3 days, 12 hours ago

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By Lindelani Makuya, Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS); University of the Witwatersrand; Antoine Stier, Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), and Carsten Schradin, Université de Strasbourg; University of the Witwatersrand

Large wild mammals – from elephants to antelopes – are already struggling to cope with global warming. Now new research shows that even the small creatures adapted to harsh, arid landscapes may be reaching their limits.

Even though they’re accustomed …

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