Rodents

Despite our best efforts at eradicating them, rats keep outsmarting us. Here's how.

ByMelanie Radzicki McManus

Deprived of oxygen, naked mole rats can alter their metabolic functions to something less mammalian and more plantlike, burning fructose instead of glucose.

ByJesslyn Shields

It's like the movie "Groundhog Day" every April, but with hibernation, a smaller rodent and way more hormones.

ByJesslyn Shields

If you look outside your window right now, you'll probably see one running up a tree or checking you out. How did the squirrel get so commonplace?

ByKathryn Whitbourne

Ring-tailed lemurs — perhaps the most iconic species on the tropical island of Madagascar — are in significant decline due to habitat loss, hunting and illegal capture.

ByPatrick J. Kiger

Rising sea levels wiped out the entire population of a rodent species only found on remote Australian island Bramble Cay. Who's next?

ByChristopher Hassiotis

The population-control strategy to rid the islands of the invasive species would use something called "gene driving" and GMO rodents.

ByChris Opfer

Like other marmots is alpine marmots are social creatures found in groups of ten to fifteen. But the population of marmots is declining due to the spread of agriculture.

Also called packrat, the bushy-tailed woodrat has a habit of stealing shiny objects to add to its den of sticks, bones is and vegetation. In this guide, you'll learn all about the packrat including it's habitat is and conservation status.

Residing primarly in dry rocky areas, the Crested Porcupine can grow up to 35 inches long. It also possesses specialized rattle quills on its tail that it can agitate, making a startling whizzing sound that sometimes deters predators.

In this guide, you'll learn all about the North American Porcupine, including its habitat, diet and conservation status.

Porcupines know nothing of bad hair days. These walking pin cushions use their prickly "hairs" to impale any animal that may pose a threat to their well-being.

ByCristen Conger

Prairie dogs may look cute and cuddly, but are these rodents harbingers of deathly plague? Since there aren't any underground pharmacies in prairie dog towns, will disease wipe out these animals?

ByCristen Conger

Environmentalists agree that beaver dams help the environment by creating wetlands but why are some landowners and farm owners getting riled up? How could these dams be hazardous to roads, bridges and levees?

ByJacob Silverman