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Mouse
A mouse is a mammal that belongs to one of numerous species of small rodents. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse. It is found in nearly all countries and, as the laboratory mouse, serves as an important model organism in biology; it is also a popular pet. The American white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) and the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) also sometimes live in houses. These species of mice live commensally with humans. Although they may live up to two years in the lab, the average mouse in the wild lives only about 3 months, primarily due 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, due to its incredible adaptability to almost any environment, and its ability to live commensally to humans, it is regarded to be the second most successful mammalian species living on earth today, after the rat. Mice can be harmful pests, damaging and eating crops and spreading diseases through their parasites and feces. The original motivation for the domestication of cats is thought to have been for their predation of mice and their relatives, the rats.
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Plants & Animals News
December 28, 2025
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Dec. 21, 2025 Old military air samples turned out to be a treasure trove of biological DNA, allowing scientists to track moss spores over 35 years. The results show mosses now release spores up to a month earlier than in the 1990s. Even more surprising, the ...
Dec. 16, 2025 Scientists are uncovering a surprising way to influence bacteria—not by killing them, but by changing how they communicate. Researchers studying oral bacteria found that disrupting chemical signals used in bacterial “conversations” can shift ...
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Dec. 14, 2025 Forskolin, a plant-derived compound, shows surprising potential against one of the most aggressive forms of leukemia. Researchers discovered that it not only stops cancer cells from growing but also makes them far more vulnerable to chemotherapy by ...
Dec. 13, 2025 Researchers analyzing ancient fossils from caves across Western Australia have uncovered a completely new species of bettong along with two new woylie subspecies—remarkable finds made bittersweet by signs that some may already be ...
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Dec. 28, 2025 Scientists have uncovered why big predators like sharks spend so much time in the ocean’s twilight zone. The answer lies with mid-sized fish such as the bigscale pomfret, which live deep during the ...
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Dec. 25, 2025 A major evolutionary theory says most genetic changes don’t really matter, but new evidence suggests that’s not true. Researchers found that helpful mutations happen surprisingly often. The twist ...
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Dec. 21, 2025 Researchers have found that fossilized dinosaur eggshells contain a natural clock that can reveal when dinosaurs lived. The technique delivers surprisingly precise ages and could revolutionize how ...
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Dec. 19, 2025 Long before whales and sharks, enormous marine reptiles dominated the oceans with unmatched power. Scientists have reconstructed a 130-million-year-old marine ecosystem from Colombia and found ...
Dec. 19, 2025 Researchers announced over 70 new species in a single year, including bizarre insects, ancient dinosaurs, rare mammals, and deep-river fish. Many were found not in the wild, but in museum ...
Dec. 18, 2025 Researchers have uncovered that the body uses different molecular systems to sense cold in the skin versus internal organs. This explains why surface chills feel very different from cold experienced ...
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