Rodents are mammals of the order Rodentia, characterized primarily by a single pair of ever-growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws, separated from the cheek teeth by a diastema and adapted for gnawing. This order encompasses extensive taxonomic diversity, including families such as Muridae, Cricetidae, Sciuridae, and Caviidae, occupying a wide range of terrestrial and arboreal habitats. Rodents exhibit high reproductive rates, diverse dietary strategies (from herbivory to omnivory), and complex social structures in some lineages. They play key ecological roles as primary consumers, seed predators and dispersers, and prey species, and serve as important model organisms in biomedical and evolutionary research.
The red squirrel was once a familiar sight across Britain. Today, it has disappeared from much of its former range. Dr. Kat Hamill, senior lecturer in zoology at Nottingham Trent University, explains what has happened to ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 2, 2026
0
24
You might be among the 46 million people who've seen a video showing how wolves changed Yellowstone, or you may have heard another version of the story. Yellowstone, which covers nearly 3,500 square miles (9,100 square kilometers) ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 29, 2026
3
74
Changes in rainfall can trigger increases in rodent populations and subsequent spikes in infection, new research has found, revealing how a changing climate could have consequences for human health.
Ecology
Sep 28, 2026
0
10
By comparing variations in the coat colors of eastern gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) in Montreal city parks, researchers found that hyperlocal conditions appear to play a bigger role in shaping wildlife traits than ...
Evolution
Sep 24, 2026
1
287
A KAUST-led team has developed the AI tool Unify to help scientists compare similar cell types across distant species. This comparison can help researchers assess which findings from animal studies may be most relevant to ...
Evolution
Sep 21, 2026
0
43
Flies, mice and humans move in different ways because of their very different physiques, but their movements follow a common pattern— joints farther from the center of the body move faster than those closer to the body. This ...
Ecology
Sep 21, 2026
0
14
As we age, some of the cells in our body enter a state of senescence, in which they stop dividing but do not die. Those senescent cells can contribute to age-related disorders such as cancer, tissue degeneration and inflammatory ...
Cell & Microbiology
Sep 21, 2026
0
97
Ask any zoo-goer and they will tell you that capybaras are adorable. Ask a scientist specializing in the rodents, which resemble oversized guinea pigs, and they will tell you they are obligate semiaquatic herbivores that ...
Ecology
Sep 17, 2026
0
163
A study led by a doctoral researcher at the University of Liverpool has found that beavers may help restore degraded peatlands by keeping landscapes wetter and making them more resilient to drought.
Plants & Animals
Sep 17, 2026
0
41
Washington State University researchers have discovered how a group of coronaviruses circulating in hedgehogs invades host cells, a key to understanding their potential to jump between species and their risk of causing a ...
Cell & Microbiology
Sep 16, 2026
0
28
