Mouse

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30 known species

A mouse (plural mice) is a small mammal belonging to the order of rodents. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (Mus musculus). It is also a popular pet. The American white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) and the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) also sometimes live in houses. In some places, certain kinds of field mice are also common. This rodent is eaten by large birds such as hawks and eagles. They are known to invade homes for food and occasionally shelter.

Although mice may live up to two and a half years in captivity, the average mouse in the wild lives only about four months,[citation needed] primarily owing to heavy predation. Cats, wild dogs, foxes, birds of prey, snakes and even certain kinds of insects have been known to prey heavily upon mice. Nevertheless, because of its remarkable adaptability to almost any environment, and its ability to live commensally with humans, the mouse is regarded to be the second most successful mammalian genus living on Earth today, after humans.

Mice can at times be harmful rodents, damaging and eating crops and spreading diseases through their parasites and feces. In western North America, breathing dust that has come in contact with mouse feces has been linked to the deadly hantavirus.[citation needed]. The original motivation for the domestication of cats is thought to have been for their predation of mice and their relatives, the rats.[citation needed]

Primarily nocturnal animals, mice compensate for their poor eyesight with a keen sense of hearing, and rely especially on their sense of smell to locate food and avoid predators.

For more information about Mouse, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


News tagged with mice

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On the trail of a vaccine for Lyme disease: Yale researchers target tick saliva

On the trail of a vaccine for Lyme disease: Researchers target tick saliva

Medicine & Health / Research

created Nov 19, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

A protein found in the saliva of ticks helps protect mice from developing Lyme disease, Yale researchers have discovered. The findings, published in the November 19 issue of Cell Host & Microbe, may spur d ...


New Down syndrome treatment suggested by study in mice

Medicine & Health / Research

created Nov 18, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (5) | comments 1

At birth, children with Down syndrome aren't developmentally delayed. But as they age, these kids fall behind. Memory deficits inherent in Down syndrome hinder learning, making it hard for the brain to collect experiences ...


New cause of osteoporosis: Mutation in a miroRNA

Medicine & Health / Research

created Nov 16, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1

Many biological processes are controlled by small molecules known as microRNAs, which work by suppressing the expression of specific sets of genes. Xiang-Hang Luo and colleagues, at Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South ...


Gene knockout may cheer up mice

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Nov 12, 2009 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Removing the PKCI/HINT1 gene from mice has an anti-depressant-like and anxiolytic-like effect. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Neuroscience applied a battery of behavioral tests to the PKCI/HINT1 knocko ...


neuron

To make memories, new neurons must erase older ones

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Nov 12, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (8) | comments 0

Short-term memory may depend in a surprising way on the ability of newly formed neurons to erase older connections. That's the conclusion of a report in the November 13th issue of the journal Cell that provid ...


baby mice

Early life stress has effects at the molecular level

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Nov 12, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (11) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study of mice suggests that stress and trauma in early life can have an impact on the genes and result in behavioral problems later in life.


Microbial menagerie: Junk food binge alters community of microbes in the gut in less than a day

Medicine & Health / Research

created Nov 11, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (7) | comments 4

(PhysOrg.com) -- Switching from a low-fat, plant-based diet to one high in fat and sugar alters the collection of microbes living in the gut in less than a day, with obesity-linked microbes suddenly thriving, according to ...


Novel mouse gene reduces major pathologies associated with Alzheimer's disease

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Nov 11, 2009 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (4) | comments 0

A new study reveals that a previously undiscovered mouse gene reduces the two major pathological perturbations commonly associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The research, published by Cell Press in the November 12 issue ...


Drug shrinks lung cancer tumors in mice

Drug shrinks lung cancer tumors in mice

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Nov 10, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- A potential new drug for lung cancer has eliminated tumours in 50% of mice in a new study published today in the journal Cancer Research. In the animals, the drug also stopped lung cancer ...


FDA-approved drugs eliminate, prevent cervical cancer in mice

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Nov 09, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health have eliminated cervical cancer in mice with two FDA-approved drugs currently used to treat breast cancer and osteoporosis.


Squeak, squeak -- can you hear me now?

Squeak, squeak -- can you hear me now?

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Nov 09, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

What do you get when you cross a mouse with poor hearing and a mouse with even worse hearing? Ironically, a new strain of mice with "golden ears" - mice that have outstanding hearing as they age.


Metal Deficit in Mouse Brain Plaques Guides Direction of Human Alzheimer's Disease Research

Metal Deficit in Mouse Brain Plaques Guides Direction of Human Alzheimer's Disease Research

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Nov 04, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Minuscule plaques in the brains of mice with Alzheimer's disease contain much less metal than the brains of affected humans, according to a study conducted at the NSLS. This surprising finding ...


Researchers have immune cells running in circles

Medicine & Health / Research

created Nov 02, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine researchers have identified the important role a protein plays in the body's first line of defense in directing immune cells called neutrophils toward ...


Of mice and men: Stem cells and ethical uncertainties

Biology / Biotechnology

created Oct 29, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

The recent creation of live mice from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) not only represents a remarkable scientific achievement, but also raises important issues, according to bioethicists at The Johns Hopkins University's ...


Th17 cells summon an immune system strike against cancer (w/ Video)

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Oct 29, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

A specific type of T helper cell awakens the immune system to the stealthy threat of cancer and triggers an attack of killer T cells custom-made to destroy the tumors, scientists from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson ...