Most representatives of the rodent family, despite the widespread bad opinion about them, are useful to people. They exterminate 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. It is impossible to list all the species of these animals 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 species of these animals occupy a third of this class in number. They usually feed on vegetation. They live alone or (less often) in a community.
Rodents live in burrows and hibernate in winter. Thanks to these qualities, they can tolerate poor living conditions better than others. Also, these animals multiply rapidly even in an unfavorable environment and in captivity. Almost all places inrodents live on the globe (with the exception of Antarctica and a few other points). All species, the number of which exceeds 1.5 thousand, make up about 30 families, the most common of which are as follows:
- mouse; representatives - mouse, rat, hamster and others;
- voles - water rat, vole and others;
- hoofed animals - guinea pig;
- porcupines;
- hare - rabbit, hare;
- beaver;
- jerboas;
- sony-mushlovka and others;
- squirrels - gopher, marmot and so on.
View description
Representatives of this genus of mammals, as mentioned above, can be found everywhere, both in the tropics and in cold zones. Despite this, the animals practically do not differ in structure. A long tail, whiskers and a compactly folded body are the main features that rodents have. All species (photos of some representatives can be seen in the article), as a rule, have 5 toes on their paws in front. Sometimes one final element may be missing or rudimentary, that is, residual, which has lost its meaning.
Also, these animals are mostly plantigrade. The shape of the tail of the representatives of the detachment may be due to functionality. So, in a beaver, this part is wide and flat, like flippers, which helps the animal a lot when swimming. And the baby mouse has a narrow and plastic tail, which allows it to climb the grass.
As a rule, most representatives of this order have very fluffy and soft fur. However,in some species, the hairline has been reborn into stiff quills, as, for example, in the porcupine.
Rodent breeding
As you know, some representatives of this order can be kept in captivity for various purposes, while others - just as pets. Domestic rodents (raised species) are usually rabbits, nutrias, guinea pigs, and so on. Each representative of individual families has its own content requirements.
So, for muskrats and nutrias, it is recommended to prepare a free habitat, for example, to fence off a sufficient area in a personal plot. For squirrels, hamsters and other small animals, it is enough to equip the cage. You can highlight the general requirements for the conditions of keeping rodents:
- cells are best made of wood, and cover part of the walls with mesh;
- in the aviary it is desirable to equip a small house with a round hole;
- it is recommended to spread cotton wool, hay or other similar materials on the floor;
- cage lid should rise;
- there should be a bath with sand or water in the place of detention;
- seeds, nuts, carrots, potatoes, lettuce, cereals and other foods are useful as food for rodents. It is also a good idea to feed captive animals with multivitamins, yeast.
