ANS 42 Lecture 15: Small Animal Form and Function
13 Jan 2017
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Small Animal Form and Function
1. Activity phases
a. Nocturnal: active at night
b. Diurnal: active during the day
c. Crepuscular: active at the day-night transitions; dusk and dawn
2. Continuously growing incisors
a. Allow an animal to keep sharp teeth edges
b. Hard enamel
c. Soft denting
3. Malocclusio: teeth do’t alig properly
a. If teeth are not treated, then the teeth will puncture the mouth and create wounds
b. Can be fatal
c. Causes the animal to stop eating and excessive drooling
4. Borrowers need a place to hide
Hamster
1. From Syria: desert region
a. Conserve water
b. Can get by on less water than normal animals
c. Urinate less
d. Odor is lower
2. Derived from the German word: Hamstern
a. Means to hoard
b. Have very large cheek pouches that go from their mouth to over their shoulders
c. Helps them carry food back to their nest
d. Do not feed them soft mushy food
i. Cannot take it out of their pouch
ii. Creates bacteria that will ferment and cause infection
3. Nocturnal
4. Can go under periods of hibernation
a. If temperature falls under 41 degrees F for long periods of time
b. Curl up and their body temperature will drop to one degree above ambient
(environment)
c. Breathing drop to 135 a minute to 1 a minute
d. Heart rate will drop to 4 per minute
5. Not social, solitary species
a. When they are scared, they will bite
6. Scent mark
a. Scent glands on their rear
Guinea Pig
1. Originated from South America
a. From a fairly high and dry region
b. Cannot tolerate heat and humidity very well
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2. Do’t have a tail
3. More social
a. Live in groups in the wild
b. Social hierarchy
c. Interactions between other guinea pigs
4. Lives in open, grassy area
a. Take refuge in burrows
b. However no mechanics for digging holes
c. Structural mechanics only for running, no climbing or jumping
5. Have couple of actions that show their fear
a. Freeze in place and emotionless for up to 20 minutes
b. Also ca stapede
i. Run as a group and run in circles
6. Lifespan: 6-8 years
7. Crepuscular
8. Highly allogenic
a. Can cause allergies in people who are sensitive
Mice
1. Originated in Asia
a. Not limited in water
b. Consume quantities of water and excrete quantities of urine
i. Greater odor because of more ammonia
ii. Sensitive to ammonia
iii. Cages need to be changed more frequently
2. Nocturnal but can be opportunistic
3. Less aggressive and reactive than hamsters
4. Social and territorial
a. Males will fight if you introduce them
i. Wean them into the group
b. Females are easier to mx and match
5. Domesticated and bred in the royal places of China and Japan
a. More ancient domestication and timeframe
6. Genetic diversity
a. Various mutations
b. Used for research
7. Bound, in terms of locomotion
a. Can get into very small areas
b. As long as their skulls can fit, they can get through
8. Lifespan: 1-2 years, can be up to 2-3 years
Rats
1. From Central Asia
a. Purposely domesticated by rat fanciers and people who wanted to bait terrier dogs
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