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mouse
rodent genus
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Category:
Animals & Nature
- Key People:
- Ryuzo Yanagimachi Charles Elton
mouse, (genus Mus), the common name generally but imprecisely applied to rodents found throughout the world with bodies less than about 12 cm (5 inches) long. In a scientific context, mouse refers to any of the 38 species in the genus Mus, which is the Latin word for mouse. The house mouse (Mus musculus), native to Central Asia, has established itself with human populations in many other parts of the world. All rodents with a mouselike or ratlike body, regardless of body size or diagnostic traits, were described as species of Mus between 1758 and the late 1800s. Subsequent study ...(100 of 1516 words)