| Summary: | [Extract] Rodents (from the Latin rodere, meaning "to gnaw") are the largest mammalian order (40%),comprising nearly 2300 species. They are diverse and abundant, occurring in nearly every terrestrial environment on Earth, apart from Antarctica. Their habits extend from burrowing, hopping,and climbing to swimming, and they show great diversity in diet, ranging from strictly herbivorous(e.g., capybaras Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) to strictly carnivorous (e.g., grasshopper mice Onychomys torridus). Rodents, like other animals, engage in costly behaviors, such as foraging, mating, territory selection, and defense, to access resources. To successfully access resources and avoid predation, rodents must be able to rapidly adjust their behavior based on the information they receive from their environment. Rodents rely extensively on olfactory cues to respond to environmental stimuli (Moriceau et al.2010). Rodents then use their cognitive abilities to decode and use this information.
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