#rodentia

Brooke's Squirrel Sundasciurus brookei

It is found in Indonesia and Malaysia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests. It is threatened by habitat loss.

Roatan Island Agouti Dasyprocta ruatanica

It is endemic to the island of Roatán, off the north coast of Honduras. The animals inhabit brushy scrub forest across the island of Roatán, where they feed on almonds, coconuts, hibiscus, and Pentaclethra pods. As the tourist industry has grown on their native island, hotels and other buildings are encroaching on their native habitat.

Namib Brush-tailed Gerbil Gerbillurus setzeri

It is endemic to Angola and Namibia. Its natural habitats are sandy and gravelly plains. It stays in its burrow by day, emerging at night to feed on arthropods, vegetable matter, and seeds.

It's summertime, and the hoary marmot has a summer bod to beat 'em all! As North America's largest ground squirrel, they can double their body weight in just a few months, going from 3.75 kg (8.3 lb) in May to 7 kg (15 lb) in September! The extra weight allows them to hibernate comfortably all through winter, which can last for 7-8 months in the northern reaches of their range.

I can’t think of a good intro sentence, so here’s Mitchell’s Hopping Mouse (Notomys mitchellii), a rodent from southern Australia [1].

While they used to be more widespread, with their current ecological niche being only a subset of what it was in the mid-1800s [2], they still have quite a considerable range across mallee scrub habitats in the wheat belt and other semi-arid areas, though fragmented and largely restricted to agricultural areas [1]. When compared to other Notomys species, they live in pretty consistent climatic conditions of low but regular rainfall [3].

They’re primarily nocturnal and live in deep burrows during the day which they come out of at dusk to forage [4]. They mostly eat seeds and other plant materials, but may sometimes eat insects. One study looking at their foraging behaviour in recently burnt vs long unburnt land found that they are most likely to remain in sheltered microhabitats in recently burnt areas, perhaps as the increased vegetation would provide more shelter from predators [5].

At least during captivity, Mitchell’s Hopping Mouse does not display any sort of seasonal reproduction, and has very stable reproductive cycle in terms of the length of their oestrus cycles (7-8 days) and gestation (34 days), when compared to other Notomys in the same study, likely due to their background of a consistent environment [3]. They have very small testes and irregular sperm quality, which would indicate low competition between males and thus a monogamous mating system. They also have spiny penises [4].

Within captivity they’ve been shown to make around 8 different vocalisations, with young mice tending to be naturally noisier than older ones. However, said study was purposefully trying to provoke reactions from the mice, and so it is uncertain whether all of these would actually be used in their natural environment. I do however appreciate the choice of calling the vocalisation they made in response to human imitation squeaks and while scrabbling at the cage while waiting to be fed the “annoyance squeal” [6].

Long-tailed Talaud Mosaic-tailed Rat Melomys talaudium

It is endemic to Karakelong and Salebabu in the Talaud Islands in Indonesia where it occurs in forest habitats. The IUCN has assessed the conservation status of the long-tailed Talaud mosaic-tailed rat as being "endangered" because its population size is thought to be decreasing, the natural forest on the islands is progressively being cleared, and the total area of occurrence of this species is around 1,000 km2.

Franklin's Ground Squirrel Poliocitellus franklinii

It is found in North America, from Alberta south to Kansas and east to Indiana. Due to the destruction of prairie, the populations of Franklin's ground squirrel have dwindled, approaching levels of concern. Plants eaten include dandelion, stinging nettle, red-berried elder, white clover, and wild peas, as well as garden vegetables. Animal material consumed ranges from insects to eggs, small rodents, fish and frogs, up to even juvenile rabbits and mallards.