Wildlife officials are encouraging California residents to add a rodent to their daily diet as part of efforts to control the invasive species‘ population. The nutria, a large, semi-aquatic rodent native to South America, is threatening the state’s ecosystems by destroying habitats and outcompeting native wildlife. The nutria’s harmful impacts have prompted wildlife officials to […]
Tag: rodent
Rodents May Use Sound to Enhance Their Sense of Smell
Recent research suggests that rats and mice might be fine-tuning their already impressive sense of smell through sounds that humans can’t detect. Scientists believe that these rodents could be using ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) to influence their olfactory abilities in ways previously unknown. Eduardo Mercado III, one of the researchers behind the study published in Neuroscience […]
The Coypu, or River rat
Myocastor coypus (Camargue) – Rodentia – Myocastoridae – It can reach a weight of 12 to 14 kg! It lives in burrows alongside stretches of water. They waste close to 90% of the river plants they feed on eating only the stems, a destructive feeding and burrowing behavior but… that is not the full extent […]
The Dassie Rat – an unique rodent
The Dassie Rat (Petromus typicus) is endemic to the Southwest Arid Zone of Africa. Their range encompasses northwestern South Africa (Northern Cape Province), central and western Namibia and southwestern Angola. These cute, squirrel-like, long tailed rodents occur regularly and sometimes commonly in rocky areas within this vast swathe of desert and semi-desert land. What makes […]