How did the Booze-Rat evolve its defensive mechanism?

In a specialised organ, the Vesica Spirite, which in function and makeup resembles a cross between the Ventriculus and the Vesica Biliaris, the animal creates and stores potent spirits by the means of a symbiology with a species of Saccharomycetales so far only found in that location.

Excerpt from Hjårdan Animaliæ

Welcome to the Most Ingenious Questions You Never Thought Of. Today we look at the booze-rat, again. An animal aptly named for its unique defensive mechanism of storing potent alcohol in its body in order to daze/incapacitate a predator.

As mentioned in the excerpt from the widely known book Hjårdan Animaliæ, the booze-rat has a specialized organ called the Vesica Spirite, we'll call it the booze-bladder. The booze-bladder is home to a specialized strand of yeast that turn sugars into potent alcohol. In order to prevent the alcohol from seeping into the bloodstream unwanted, the booze-bladder is lined with a thick layer of mucus.

If a colony is attacked/goes hunting, the rats that get attacked by the predator will release the alcohol stored in their body into their stomach. The induction of the potent alcohols into the stomach will trigger a disequilibrium, causing the booze-rat to expulse its gastric contents thus covering itself with the dangerous liquid.

Q: How did the booze-rat evolve into the being described above?

This question is asking for a description of how the booze-rat has evolved into its current form. It does not necessarily ask for a detailed account back to the first multi-cell-organism but it does ask for more than a simple because things answer.

The term booze-rat has been chosen because it sounds rad. The animal in question does not necessarily have to be an actual rat - the animal is meant to be a rodent though.

posted about 8 years ago

dot_Sp0T‭

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