Mouse (animal)

HISTORY 

Among the various cures the Ancient Egyptians had for toothache was splitting open the body of a live mouse, then laying it, still warm, along the patient's gums.

In Roman Britain eating mice was considered a good cure for measles, smallpox, whooping cough and other ailments.

The Australian house mouse is thought to have arrived in the country on British convict ships in the late 18th century.

The first mouse to go into space was on August 15, 1950. The mouse was launched on a V-2 rocket from White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The rocket reached an altitude of 137 kilometers (85 miles), but the mouse died during the descent due to a parachute malfunction.

The mouse was part of a series of experiments conducted by the United States Air Force to study the effects of space travel on living organisms. The experiments showed that mice could survive the rigors of spaceflight, but they also showed that there were some risks, such as the possibility of parachute failure.

The first mouse to survive a spaceflight was launched on December 1, 1960, aboard the Soviet spacecraft Korabl-Sputnik 3. The mouse, along with two other mice, a dog, and some insects, made it back to Earth safely.

In 1998, Yevgeny Kafelnikov's Wimbledon singles match with Mark Philippoussis was interrupted when a mouse ran onto the court during play,

The world's oldest mouse was Pat, a Pacific pocket mouse who lived to be 9 years and 210 days old. He was born on July 14, 2013, at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in California, and died on February 9, 2023. He almost two years older than the previous oldest mouse ever recorded, Fritzy (1977-1985), who lived to the age of 7 years and 225 days.

Pat was named after the actor Patrick Stewart, who is known for his roles in Star Trek and X-Men. He was part of a conservation breeding program at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and was used to help breed other Pacific pocket mice.

Pat's longevity was due to a number of factors, including his good genes and the care he received from his keepers. He was fed a healthy diet and given plenty of exercise, and he was kept in a clean and comfortable environment.

DIET

It's a myth that mice like cheese. In fact, they actively avoid it, as the smells are too strong for their tiny sensitive noses. It is unclear where the myth came from.

Mice enjoy high-sugar foods such as chocolate or peanut butter or milk.

One ounce of cress boiled down will produce enough cyanide to kill two mice.

ANATOMY

Most of the rodents in homes are likely to be house mice or wood mice. House mice are grey, with long tails, large eyes and small heads. Wood mice are larger with orange-brown fur.

Mice can't see red light.

Mice see best in dim light.

A mouse's whiskers can detect temperature changes as well as help it feel its way about.

Mice can squeeze through a gap just 6mm wide.

Chimpanzees and humans are, genetically, ten times closer than rats and mice.

BEHAVIOR

A female mouse can begin having babies at two months of age and can give birth to up to a dozen babies every three weeks.

Mice have weak bladders and spread urine around homes. Nearly two thirds carry the toxoplasmosis parasite which, if pregnant women are infected, can cause birth defects.

The grasshopper mouse howls like a wolf before biting into its prey.

Mice can instantly recognize relatives they’ve never met, using smell to detect a species-specific protein.

Mice sing like birds, but humans can’t hear them.

Even wild mice enjoy running on wheels. When wheels were placed in nature, free living wild mice were observed to spontaneously run on them. The average maximum speed achieved by wild mice was higher than what captive mice reached in a laboratory.

POPULATION

The house mouse is the UK's most populous mammal. At this moment in time, there are around 78 million of them living there.

WORDS  

Female mice are does, males are bucks and babies are pinkies or pups.

The word for fear of mice is musophobia.

The word for pertaining to, or characteristic of mice is murine.

Sources Daily Express, Daily Mail