Related topics: brain · memory · neurons · hippocampus

Invasive rodent research may help protect Hawaiian forests

O'ahu, Hawaii, is an island rife with lush nature, expansive ocean views and, increasingly, invasive rodents. House mice, black rats and Pacific rats all have contributed to ecological destruction in Oʻahu's forests, and ...

Team takes first-ever photos of the Vangunu giant rat

A team of Zaira Rangers, a mammalogist with The University of Melbourne and a college professor with Solomon Islands National University have taken the first and only pictures of the rare Vangunu giant rat. In their project, ...

Does spaceflight increase men's risk of erectile dysfunction?

During missions into space, astronauts are exposed to high levels of galactic cosmic radiation and weightlessness. Simulation experiments in male rats indicated that these aspects of spaceflight can negatively affect vascular ...

Using miniature microphones to record rat's happy squeaks

A team of neurobiologists at the University of Haifa's, Sagol Department of Neurobiology has found, via the use of novel miniature microphones, that rats make sounds when in the company of other rats for no other reason than ...

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Rat

50 species

Stenomys Thomas, 1910

Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus. Many members of other rodent genera and families are also called rats and share many characteristics with true rats.

Rats are typically distinguished from mice by their size; rats are generally large muroid rodents, while mice are generally small muroid rodents. The muroid family is very large and complex, and the common terms rat and mouse are not taxonomically specific. Generally, when someone discovers a large muroid, its common name includes the term rat, while if it is small, the name includes the term mouse - scientifically, the terms are not confined to members of the Rattus and Mus genera. Compare the taxonomic classification of the Pack rat and Cotton mouse.

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