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Dormice are small rodents, with body lengths between 6 and 19 cm (2.4 and 7.5 in), and weight between 15 and 180 g (0.53 and 6.35 oz). [6] They are generally mouse-like in appearance, but with furred tails. They are largely arboreal, agile, and well adapted to climbing. Most species are nocturnal.
The hazel dormouse requires a variety of arboreal foods to survive. It eats berries and nuts and other fruit with hazelnuts being the main food for fattening up before hibernation. The dormouse also eats hornbeam and blackthorn fruit where hazel is scarce. Other food sources are the buds of young leaves, and flowers which provide nectar and pollen.
Voles thrive on small plants yet, like shrews, they will eat dead animals and, like mice and rats, they can live on almost any nut or fruit. In addition, voles target plants more than most other small animals, making their presence evident. Voles readily girdle small trees and ground cover much like a porcupine. This girdling can easily kill ...
The genus name refers to the small ears of these animals. They are stout rodents with short ears, legs and tails. They eat green vegetation such as grasses and sedges in summer, and grains, seeds, root and bark at other times. The genus is also called "meadow voles". [1] Microtus skulls (Bailey, 1900) Microtus skull bases (Bailey, 1900)
In the 1970s, researchers removed kangaroo rats from an ecosystem in the Chihuahuan Desert, and for many years, no other small rodents moved in to fill the niche they left. In 1995, twenty years after the experimental removal, Bailey's pocket mouse moved into the area and filled the gap, almost completely replacing the missing kangaroo rats. [6]
The pups are born in burrows lined with leaves, roots and hair. They are well developed at birth and may be up and eating within an hour. Fathers are barred from the nest while the young are very small, but the parents pair bond for the rest of their lives. They can live for as long as 20 years, a remarkably long time for a rodent. [9]
The common degu (Octodon degus; / ˈ d eɪ ɡ uː /), or, historically, the degu, is a small hystricomorpha rodent endemic to the Chilean matorral ecoregion of central Chile. [2] The name degu on its own indicates either the entire genus Octodon or, more commonly, just the common degu.
Forty percent of mammal species are rodents, and they inhabit every continent except Antarctica. This list contains circa 2,700 species in 518 genera in the order Rodentia. [ 1 ]