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Rodentia Sensory Systems

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior

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Synonyms

Perception; Sensation; Stimulus response

Definition

Sensory systems are the physiological modalities by which individuals engage with the world. The major systems include audition, vestibular, gustation, olfaction, touch, and vision.

Introduction

Across the order Rodentia are a variety of different mammals which use their sensory systems to interact with the world. These sensory systems vary in complexity and importance depending on the evolution and lifestyle of the animal. Rodents are diverse in both physical size and the environment in which they live. They are dependent on highly specialized and adapted sensory systems to engage with their environments and to survive.

Rodents live in wet and dry, hot and cold, aboveground and subterranean, and light and dark environments. Across these environments, they live in either solitary conditions or large social groups (Feldhamer et al. 2015). In each of these contrasting environments and climates, different sensory systems assume...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, SUNY, Buffalo, NY, USA

    Kali Burke & Anastasiya Kobrina

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA

    Anastasiya Kobrina

Authors
  1. Kali Burke
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  2. Anastasiya Kobrina
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kali Burke .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Jennifer Vonk

  2. Department of Psychology, Oakland University Department of Psychology, Rochester, MI, USA

    Todd Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Texas Christian University, Forth Worth, USA

    Kenneth Leising

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Burke, K., Kobrina, A. (2020). Rodentia Sensory Systems. In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_765-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_765-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-47829-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-47829-6

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