- Natal Multimammate Mouse
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Natal Multimammate Mouse Conservation status Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Rodentia Family: Muridae Genus: Mastomys Species: M. natalensis Binomial name Mastomys natalensis
Smith, 1834Synonyms Mastomys hildebrandtii (Peters, 1878)
Myomys fumatus (Peters, 1878)The Natal Multimammate Mouse (Mastomys natalensis) is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is also known as the Natal Multimammate Rat, the Common African Rat, or the African Soft-furred Rat.[1]
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Range
It is found in Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Habitat
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, dry savanna, moist savanna, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, arable land, pastureland, rural gardens, urban areas, irrigated land, and seasonally flooded agricultural land.
In 1972, the Natal Multimammate Mouse was found to be the natural host of the deadly Lassa Fever virus.
Domestication
The Natal Multimammate Rat is currently being bred in the US and Canada as a replacement food source for reptiles, replacing the Brown Rat as a viable food source for picky eaters. It is also recognized as one of the natural food sources for Ball Pythons. They are also being used for stomach cancer research, among other ailments. In Europe they have begun breeding them for companion animal use, namely in Germany and England. This trend is also catching, slowly, in the US and Canada.
Notes
References
- Granjon, L., Lavrenchenko, L., Corti, M., Coetzee, N. & Rahman, E.A. 2004. Mastomys natalensis. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 9 July 2007.
- Musser, G. G. and M. D. Carleton. 2005. Superfamily Muroidea. pp. 894–1531 in Mammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
- Tofts, Russell. Multimammate Mice. Retrieved July 14, 2009.
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