Dr. Frank van Breukelen is an Associate Professor in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He was invited to tell us about a new research project in this laboratory about some really cool mammals called tenrecs.

Once bathing in the waters of the southwestern United States, a fish, Cyprinodon macularius , found in the Death Valley basement, has surprisingly adapted after the drastic change in its aquatic environment. The adaptation of its metabolism to new conditions is an astonishing example of physiological plasticity.

Tiny pupfish have adapted their respiration to go without oxygen for long stretches.

And you thought you could hold your breath for a long time. Enter the desert pupfish, a tiny fish that has been playing evolutionary catch-up due to the extreme changes in its environment over the last 10,000 years.

The desert pupfish has evolved to go without oxygen for considerable periods of time to survive its harsh environment

The relict leopard frog’s journey into Southern Nevada’s landscape has seen its share of challenges.

A shrewlike creature in Madagascar that can hibernate for at least nine months of the year without waking may help reveal how mammals survived the cataclysm that ended the age of dinosaurs, researchers suggest.