three manners, the house-mouse (Mus musculus), the house-rat (Rattus rattus) and the traveling-rat (Rattus norvegicus) brought the whole family of the real mice or long-tail-mice to people in big disrepute with us. These vital small-mammals are world-wide shipped through the shipping today and among the rodents this probably the most dangerously food and health-pests. The big "success" of these three types, but certainly also the many others more real mouse, is well-founded well, that its physique is so little specialized. This gives them the possibility to populate the most different habitats and to find the way around also in an environment the continuous changes subservient is. The most important behaviors add on top of this: Curiosity, reconnaissance-behavior, living together in social associations and the tendency to the diet as Omnivoren (omnivores).
These qualities essentially agree with those of the human being. Therefore, some of this Nager could stretch so very much also in the retinue of the human being.
Tribal-history The real mice still are tribal-historical very young. its formation approximately 10-15 million years (middle young-tertiary) ago was in the comparison with other Nagern and mammals only "yesterday" so to speak. Type - and mold-forming processes still are in the walk, and we can assume that these Nager still gained the climax of its evolution not at all.
Characteristics With all real mice, the tail is long and very movable, it is almost used by some forms like a fifth limb! The tail is beschuppt densely and only sparsely hairy. it therefore looks bare and frequently works repulsively on us, particularly with the bigger forms. Eyes and ears are well developed.
Frequently, the question appears which actually is the difference between rats and mice. The general usage names all smaller Mäuseartigen "mice", that approximately bigger, from 15 cm of length, against it "rats." This differentiation is arbitrary of course and from no systematic meaning. We understand the house-mice of the type Mus and its sister-types zoologically seen by the mice in the narrowest sense and among rats the representatives of the real rats of the type Rattus.
Types The large flock of the among each other partially very similar real mice turns into the following subfamilies, types and types individually treats:
Bandikutratten (Bandicota), South-Asia; Borkenratten (Phloeomyinae), southeast-Asia; Grass-mice (Lemniscomys), Africa; Mice i. e. S. with the house-mouse, world-wide; Rats (Rattus) with the house-rat and the traveling-rat, both world-wide; finally the forest-mice (Apodemus), Europe and Asia, with fire-mouse, yellow-neck-mouse and forest-mouse.
Scientific name: