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Mice - History
As kids we all loved nursery rhymes and stories about mice and mouse characters like finger mouse, Mickey Mouse and Tom & Jerry. More recently the hit sensation Stuart Little mouse.
 Mice are also ran characters in the supporting roles of great films like Cinderella and Dumbo to name but two.
Mickey Mouse is the most famouse mouse of all!
The species is called Mus musculus or Mus domesticus in the Genus Mus part of the family Muridae in the Order Rodentia, Sub-Order Myomorpha. There are over 1800 other rodent species around today but the mouse is the most studied by us.
Real mice have been living with or close to humans since Adam was a boy. Their prehistoric ancestors were around before we were. There are a couple of sources for the name mouse, one of which is the Sanskrit word 'mush' which relates to the act of stealing. The Latin (scientific) name for the genus is 'Mus'.
Mice have been responsible for serious losses from granaries and other food stores including major losses in communication where they have infested telephone systems and stripped the wires and cabling.
You may be surprised to know that there have been temples devoted to the humble mouse in areas of the Middle East, China and Japan. Mice certainly have their place in animal history for scientific, medicinal purposes and research.
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