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The term spiny mouse refers to any species of rodent within the genus Acomys. Similar in appearance to mice of the genus Mus, spiny mice are small mammals with bare, scaled tails. However, their coats are endowed with unusually stiff guard hairs that function similarly to the spines of a hedgehog; this trait is the source of the common name, spiny mouse.
Despite their similarity to members of the genus Mus, genetic evidence suggests that the African spiny mice may be more closely related to gerbils than to common mice.
Read more about Spiny Mouse: Classification, Spiny Mice As Exotic Pets, Autotomy and Tissue Regeneration
Famous quotes containing the word mouse:
“It is as when a migrating army of mice girdles a forest of pines. The chopper fells trees from the same motive that the mouse gnaws them,—to get his living. You tell me that he has a more interesting family than the mouse. That is as it happens.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)