What’s your favorite cartoon? Ask anyone and you would surely be bombarded with the answer - Tom & Jerry!! While we all love to watch Jerry on the idiot box, watching one, live at home, can be too far from being fun. If your house has been arrested with these little devils, its time you should know some of the facts associated with a mouse. A mouse, plural being mice, is a small animal belonging to the order of rodents. While there are as many as 30 species of the animal, the house mouse or Mus musculus is the most popular one. To know some more interesting and amazing information about mice, browse through the following lines.
Facts About Mice
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Superfamily: Muroidea
Family: Muridae
Subfamily: Murinae
Genus: Mus
Species: 30
Weight: 20 to 25 grams
Average Lifespan: 1 to 2 years
Diet: Anything
Habitat: In field, nest or burrow. They also live in homes and other buildings.
Age of Sexual Maturity: Males: 50 days, Females: 50 days
Gestation Period: 18 to 21 days
Number of Offspring: 3 to 12
Interesting & Amazing Information On Mice
- The name ‘mouse’ comes from a Sanskrit word ‘mus’, which means thief.
- While male mice are known as buck, female mice are called doe. Baby mice are known as pinky or kitten.
- Mice are constant eaters and would eat anything they get hold of. However, hard bread is the most favorite food item.
- Mice have tails that are as long as their bodies.
- Every year, mice cause more than one billion dollar damage in the US alone.
- Mice are highly curious and explore their territory daily, paying special attention to new objects or physical changes.
- They are prolific breeders, producing six to ten litters continuously throughout the year.
- Mice usually have a poor vision, which is why their activity is constrained to smell, taste, touch and hearing.
- They have long sensitive whiskers near the nose and hair on the body. For traveling, they use this tactile sensor to pass through the dark.
- Mice have a great sense of balance, which allows them to walk along telephone wires, ropes and similar thin objects.
- They have excellent jumping capacity and can jump at least 12 inches vertically.
- Mice can run up almost any vertical surface; wood, brick, weathered sheet metal, cables, etc.
- They can transmit salmonellosis (bacterial food poisoning), when food is contaminated with infected mouse feces
