10 Facts about Pet Mice
They are the domesticated form of the house mouse and belong to a fascinating species
Here are ten interesting facts about the little rodents you might not have known...
- Males are called 'bucks': Buck is the lesser-known name for male pet mice; usually they are simply referred to as 'male mice'.
- The tail of a pet mouse is almost as long as its body: As well as this extraordinary length, it is characterised by its scale rings.
- Pet mice sense the surface they’re walking on through their whiskers. Using their 'vibrissae', or whiskers, the animals scan their surroundings and are able to orient themselves even in darkness.
- Pet mice are very sporty: Their activities include balancing, climbing, jumping and swimming.
- Mice are clean, tidy and organised: In their underground 'apartments' they have special areas for sleeping, storing food and going to the toilet.
- Mice are thieves: At least, if you take its name as a basis. Allegedly, the word 'mouse' is derived from the Sanskrit verb 'mū', which means "to steal".
- Mickey Mouse was the world’s first animated mouse: His first movie was 'Steamboat Willie' which was premiered in 1928.
- In 1997 the first mouse was cloned: 'Cumulina' lived to the ripe old age of two years and seven months (the equivalent of 95 human years).
- 'Three blind mice' – a nursery rhyme with a dark past: They were three Protestant loyalists accused of conspiring against England’s Queen Mary I (personified as the 'farmer's wife'). The men were burned at the stake.
