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Here's some stuff you didn't know about the little Mouse.
1. Mice are found all over the world, but their name comes
from an ancient word in Sanskrit, "mus," that means thief.
If you live where there are wild mice, you know how they got
their name.
2. Another name for the ancient Greek god Apollo was Apollo
Smintheus, which means Apollo the Mouse. To honor him, white
mice were kept under the altar in his temples.
3. Some ancient cultures had great respect for mice.
Egyptians used a cooked mouse to cure a variety of illnesses
including stomach aches.
4. Even today some people believe that eating mouse pie or
fried mice is a cure for bedwetting! It should be a cure for
something!
5. Many types of mice have tails that are as long as their
bodies. They use their tails for balancing bars and for
helping them to navigate in the dark, among other things.
6. Some mice don't have any hair at all. They were
originally bred to help in cancer research, but some people
like them as pets now too.
7. A female mouse is called a doe.
8. A male mouse is called a buck.
9. A baby mouse is called a pinky or a kitten. They are born
so their skin looks pink, and their eyes are sealed
shut, and they are about the size of a child's "pinky
finger," which may be how that finger got that name, we
don't know.
10. Never pick a mouse up by its tail. You can grab the base
of the tail near its body with one hand while supporting its
feet with the other, but don't hang it by the end of its
tail, it can break the tail.
11. The average mouse lives only one to two years.
12. A full-grown mouse weighs less than an ounce (twenty-
eight grams).
13. Mickey Mouse was born in 1928.
And, even more information and facts about mice.
14. The first mice to arrive in North America probably were
among the first animals to cross the Bering Strait land
bridge thousands of years ago. European species such as the
House Mouse arrived later as stowaways on ships from Europe.
15. Mice have been tamed and kept as pets for hundreds of
years. The National Mouse Club of Britain was formed in
1895.
16. Mice are considered nocturnal, which means that they are
often more active at night than during the day. This is a
common characteristic of animals that are prey for many
predators because it is easier to hide at night.
17. Mice are said to be able to see some colors; however,
they lack the pigment that would allow them to see the color
red. Mice can see shades of black and white and may be able
to distinguish blues.
18. Mice are constant eaters; they nibble nearly all the
time that they are awake.
19. Mice are generally classified as herbivores (plant
eaters), and eat a regular diet of grains and fruit, but
mice will eat almost anything they encounter.
20. Mice can climb very well, but in the wild they primarily
stay on the ground and create paths through the grasses and
foliage to link the areas where they find food, water, and
nesting supplies with their dens.
21. If they are frightened and cannot quickly escape some
mice play dead like opossums do.
22. Mouse squeaks are often at such high frequencies that
they are above the range that we can hear.
23. Mice can jump down twelve feet (three and one half
meters) without injury; they also can jump one foot (one
third meter) vertically.
24. Mouse tails have scales that help them hang onto the
surfaces they are climbing.
25. Contrary to what many people think, mice often keep
their homes organized into special areas for food, sleep,
and toilet purposes, and keep them very clean.
26. Many people consider mice to be great pets, thanks to
their entertaining antics and - once tame - affectionate
behavior.
27. Besides the ordinary domestic mouse, other pet mice
include fancy mice with a variety of coat colors, spiny mice
with shorter, more bristly fur, hairless mice (with no hair,
of course), and zebra mice with attractive striping.
28. Pet mice are available in at least 70 different colors
and combinations.
29. According to some cultures, if you dream about mice, you
are going to die soon.
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