His Royal High-Mouse

We know that birds can live at extremely high altitudes, but it is much more difficult for mammals to do this. Especially humans, but some manage this (see "Adapting to High Altitudes" for more). But a mouse lives atop a dormant volcano between Chile and Argentina.

Patagonian leaf-eared mouse, or yellow-rumped leaf-eared mouse (public domain image)

Apparently it's the highest known mammal (excluding recreational narcotics), so scientists are a mite startled. (What does it eat, anyway?) There are other critters that live in high places. This adds to the creationist conjectures that the Master Engineer equipped many living things from the beginning to have genetic (epigenetics?) traits that were switched on to allow them to thrive in various environments.

Recently, researchers have reported on the world’s “highest-dwelling mammal,” the yellow-rumped leaf-eared mouse, observed upon a dormant volcano 6,739 meters (22,110 feet) above sea level.1 While the discovery of birds at greater altitudes is not surprising, “that mammals can live at these heights is astonishing, considering there’s only about 44 percent of the oxygen available at sea level. . . . The temperature is also rarely above freezing and can drop as low as –60° Celsius.”

To read the rest, climb on over to "Record-Breaking Mouse, Higher Than Any Mammal".