What are rodents?

rodents are the order of small placental mammals characterized by their skulls, continuously growing teeth and sharp incisors that use for the driving wood, break hard nuts and bite predators. Their name means "gnawing teeth" in Latin. Some rodents include chipmunks, hamsters, gerbily, gophers, porcupine, mice, rats, squirrels, beavers and guinea pigs. They are found on all continents, with the exception of Antarctica in large numbers and make up 40 percent of the biodiversity of mammals, with about 2,277 species. Live rodent, which can grow to 130 centimeters (4.3 ft) and weighs up to 65 kg (140 lb). A few million years ago, there were much larger rodents, including Phoberomys Pattersoni, which was 3 m (9.8 ft) long, with a tail of 1.5 m (5 ft.) And probably weighed around 700 kg (1,450 lb), cow size and even larger, recently discovered They could weigh 2.5 tons. That's a big rodent.

The most common rodents are mice, rats, squirrels, partly the result of their ability to adapt to the environment heavily seated by human beings, even if they are in the wild in large numbers. Like other rodents, they are successful due to their small size, high reproductive speeds, high speeds, the ability to deepen the barriers and consume a wide range of foods. All rodents are herbivores. Their primary predators are foxes, cats and dogs. Given their often dirty nature and small size, rodents are one group of mammals who are often not consumed as food, although several cultures, such as the Midwest United States, are rare.

Fossil record of animals of similar rodents begins about 65 million years ago, in paleocene, shortly after the extinction of non -naanosaurs. About 35 million years ago rodents diversified to ancestors of beavers, dormouse, squirrelKy and other modern groups. Their closest relatives are lagomorphs, including rabbits, hares and picas.