Rodents

Rodents are mammals with continuously growing front teeth adapted for gnawing. They range widely in size and occur across most of the world.

What are rodents?

The order Rodentia includes mice, rats, beavers, capybaras and squirrels. Rodents provide food for many predators and some disperse seeds. Rabbits are lagomorphs, not rodents.

BeaverCastor fiber; Castor canadensis

A grey chinchilla with rounded ears, dark eyes and long whiskers

ChinchillaChinchilla spp.

Brown common degu with rounded ears and a tufted tail standing on a branch

Common deguOctodon degus

Crested porcupines (Hystrix cristata) resting on the ground

Crested porcupineHystrix cristata

Grey edible dormouse with large black eyes and a bushy tail on a branch with red berries

Edible dormouseGlis glis

European hamsterCricetus cricetus

Grey flying squirrel with large dark eyes on a piece of wood

Flying squirrelPteromyini

A short-haired guinea pig with a rounded muzzle and small folded ears

Guinea pigCavia porcellus

HamsterCricetinae

Black and yellow-brown Norway lemming crouching on a lichen-covered rock

LemmingLemmini

Brown Mongolian gerbil with pale underparts sitting upright at a burrow entrance

Mongolian gerbilMeriones unguiculatus

MouseMus spp.; Mus musculus is the house mouse

Black-tailed prairie dog at a burrow entrance, holding food with its front paws

Prairie dogCynomys

A brown rat, Rattus norvegicus, with whiskers and a scaly tail curved on the ground

RatsRattus

SquirrelSciuridae (squirrels)