Fun facts! The Cypriot pentapod hamster (shown above) is one of the few species to have arisen as a dedicated specialist of human domesticated/hybridized crops, in this case the Brassica cultivar Broccoli. While the essential function of many of its unique adaptations and asymmetries* are still hotly debated within the scientific world, the use of hats, particularly in the mating season, have been shown to be critical fitness indicators to potential mates that the hamster individual has access to a resource of hamsterdashery, or a least a solid line of credit at same, such that the potential offspring will also benefit from an increased availability of little hats in a variety of styles. *the debate is confounded by the observation that while each individual cypriot pentapod hamster has 5 limbs, the number of digits on each limb is highly variable: from 3-8. Further muddying any functional interpretation of these variations is that in the field, researchers relied on the little hats as identifiers, rather than tags or genetic IDs. Thus it remains undetermined if an adult pentapod can actually change their arrangement of digits, or if they've simply changed their little hat.
*the debate is confounded by the observation that while each individual cypriot pentapod hamster has 5 limbs, the number of digits on each limb is highly variable: from 3-8. Further muddying any functional interpretation of these variations is that in the field, researchers relied on the little hats as identifiers, rather than tags or genetic IDs. Thus it remains undetermined if an adult pentapod can actually change their arrangement of digits, or if they've simply changed their little hat.
I know, I know it's really serious