Genomic study of the Asian house shrew reveals a complex history of Indo-Pacific trade and human migration‎

Sometimes mistaken for a strange-looking mouse with a long, pointed snout, the Asian house shrew is a small, furry animal known for its musky odor. It's usually found lurking near homes and farms, ports and cities, across Southeast Asia, East Africa, southern Japan and islands across the Indian Ocean. In new research published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, scientists from Hokkaido University show that hidden within the DNA of the Asian house shrew is a record of human migration, trade and cultural exchange stretching from East Asia to the Arabian Sea.