Rodents: all kinds and other useful information

Most representatives of the rodent family, despite the widespread bad opinion about them, are useful for people. They destroy insects and prevent weeds from growing, thereby maintaining the purity of the forest. And, of course, rodents are also suppliers of valuable and beautiful fur. All kinds of these animals can not be listed in one article, but we will try to highlight the most important points.

basic information

It is known that the most numerous detachment of mammals inhabiting our planet are rodents. All kinds of these animals occupy by the number of third of this class. They, as a rule, eat vegetation. They live alone or (less often) in the community.

Rodents live in burrows, and in winter they go into hibernation. Due to these qualities they are better than others can tolerate poor living conditions. Also, these animals multiply rapidly even in an unfavorable environment and in captivity. Practically in all places on the globe (with the exception of Antarctica and other few points) live rodents. All species, the number of which exceeds 1,5 thousand, are about 30 families, the most common of which are the following:

• Mouse; Representatives - mouse, rat, hamster and others;
• Voles - a water rat, a voles and others;
• Half-hoofed - guinea pig;
• Porcupine;
• Hares - rabbit, hare;
• Beaver;
• Tuscenkovye;
• Sony - mushlovka and others;
• Squirrel - gopher, marmot and so on.

Description of the species

Representatives of this mammal, as mentioned above, can be found everywhere, both in the tropics and in cold zones. Despite this, animals practically do not differ in structure. A long tail, a mustache and a compactly folded trunk are the main signs that rodents have. All kinds (photos of some representatives can be seen in the article), as a rule, have 5 fingers on the paws in front. Sometimes one final element may be absent or be rudimentary, that is, a residual element that has lost its value.

Also, mostly these animals are stooping. The tail shape of the squad members may be due to functionality. Thus, in the beaver this part is wide and flat, like the fin, which helps the animal very much when swimming. And the mouse-baby has a narrow and plastic tail that allows it to climb on the grass.

As a rule, most of the representatives of this detachment wear fur very fluffy and soft. However, in some species, the scalp has degenerated into rigid needles, as, for example, in the porcupine.

Rodent breeding

As you know, some representatives of this detachment can be kept in captivity for various purposes, and others - just as pets. Home gnawers (species for growing) are usually rabbits, nutria, guinea pigs and so on. For each representative of individual families, there are different requirements for content.

So, for muskrats and nutrias, it is recommended to prepare a free habitat, for example, to protect a sufficient area on the backyard. For squirrels, hamsters and other small animals, it is enough to equip the cage. It is possible to single out general requirements to the conditions of rodents:

• Cells are best made of wood, and a part of the walls covered with a grid;
• In the enclosure it is desirable to equip a small house with a round hole;
• On the floor it is recommended to spread cotton wool, hay or other similar materials;
• The lid of the cell must rise;
• In the place of detention should be a bath with sand or water;
• Seeds, nuts, carrots, potatoes, lettuce leaves, cereals and other food are useful as food for rodents. It is also not bad to feed animals in captivity with polyvitamins, yeast.