Vikings who conquered new lands unwittingly brought with them another
sort of invader, a new DNA study says—mice.
Scientists studying the evolution of house mice already knew about a DNA
pattern found only in mice in what's now Norway,
a Viking homeland, and northern Britain, which Vikings colonized, said study
leader
Eleanor Jones, a population biologist at Uppsala University in Sweden.
The finding suggested to Jones and her team that the two populations, despite
being separated by the sea, were related and that Vikings had possibly brought
the mice to northern Britain.
The new study tested modern and ancient mouse remains from the sites of known
Viking colonies and found the same telltale pattern, adding weight to the idea
that the mice were brought by Viking colonizers.
