Page 277 - (DK) I Can’t Believe It! 2

TRUE OR FALSE? 275
Mice like cheese the highest cheese FAST FACTS
The country with
consumption per
capita is Greece.
OTHER
MAMMALS
60%

RODENTS
40%
ABOUT 40% OF ALL
MAMMAL SPECIES ARE
RODENTS

Rodents are possibly the most successful
group of animals of all time—they have
survived for about 160 million years and
remain abundant today.
THE
ROMANS
What is THOUGHT
unusual WHITE
about the
incisor (front) RATS
These accomplished climbers, WERE LUCKY
teeth of mice? Mice hide out near food sources.
jumpers, and swimmers navigate But if a black rat ate your lunch, it was
their way around homes and yards believed to be a bad omen. Also, the Hindu
easily. A recent study revealed that Karni Mata Temple in Rajasthan, India, is
male mice sing love songs to females, dedicated to rats—about 20,000 live there,
but they are so high-pitched that and if a human kills one, he or she must
replace it with a solid gold statue of a rat.
we can’t hear them. If things go
well, a female house mouse can THE LONGEST
have up to 120 babies a year!
RAT IS THE SIZE

Mice love to explore, OF A CAT
squeezing down small
to fit through tiny gaps The Bosavi woolly rat was
and biting clean through discovered by a television crew
obstacles to keep moving. shooting a documentary about
Mount Bosavi, an extinct volcano in
Papua New Guinea. At about 32 in
(82 cm) long, it is slightly longer
than the average domestic cat,
which is 30 in (76.2 cm) long.

US_274-275_309600_Rodents.indd 275 19/12/17 3:49 pm