Do rats kill mice

Rats and mice for some it is really different to differentiate between both, but actually these are two different creatures with different habits, potentials as well as living patterns. Do rats kill mice? This is going to be a tricky question if you are not capable of telling the main difference present between a rat and a mouse. Let’s put a brief look at the qualities possessed by both creatures before going into the details of the main topic.



Rats

Rats are normally medium sized rodents who have longer tails and belong to superfamily Muroidea. True rats are actually known for having association with Rattus genus, and of all different types of rats that are present Black Rats are considered as the most common one. Mistakenly many other rodents having same shape and structure are referred to as rats, which is not true. They are larger in size when compared to mice.

Mice

Mice on the other side are different creatures with small size and pointed snout; they have small eyes that are rounded. Mice are also popular for the higher rate of breeding associated with them. House mouse is the most common specie of mice present also it is popularly kept as a pet. In many parts of the world field mice are commonly found. These are better known for invading homes for getting shelter and food. Mice which are sold as pets normally differ considerably from house mice for several reasons. The traits present inside lab mouse are more uniform and because of this reason it is extensively used in research.

From the above discussion it is clear that rats differ from mice most prominently because of their size. Larger rodents will most probably be rats whereas a smaller one will be a mouse this is the easiest way of spotting the difference.

Coming back to the main question do rats kill mice and now keeping in mind the above points it can be said that yes rats are capable of eating almost everything. They kill mice and eat them as well and this is known as muricide. It is a typical behavior found in rats and normally muricide takes places because of hunger as well as other environmental conditions, but it has also been found that mice killing are influenced by the neurotransmitter signaling in the brain of rat. This is a genuine behavior associated with rats.

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