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Post by AliBullie on Sept 7, 2006 17:31:38 GMT 1
Ancient Romans did not generally differentiate between rats and mice, instead referring to the former as Mus Maximus (big mouse) and the latter as Mus Minimus (little mouse).
Ali
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Post by Viv on Sept 7, 2006 20:53:45 GMT 1
That's correct Which prize would you like Ali
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Post by Viv on Sept 8, 2006 17:13:33 GMT 1
Question 5
Which part of its body does a rat use to help regulate its temperature ?
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Post by petdesigns on Sept 8, 2006 17:34:44 GMT 1
rats clean their ears, feet and nose to regulate their corporal temperature with saliva
and, I think this is the 'real one': The rat's tail has a thermoregulatory function: it serves as a heat-loss organ. The tail is well suited for this purpose, because it has no fur, has a large surface to volume ratio, and is perfused with many blood vessels, especially at the tail tip and midlength (Yulong et al. 1995). The rat's tail comprises only 5% of the rat's surface area, but it can dissipate about 17% of the rat's body heat (Monson and Oyama 1984).
Rats control their body temperature through their tails by dilating or constricting their tail blood vessels. When the rat's body temperature rises by a few degrees, the tail vessels (especially the veins) swell -- called vasodilation -- permitting lots of warm blood to flow through the tail (Vanhoutte et al. 2002). The warm blood loses heat through the surface of the tail and returns to the body at a lower temperature, thus cooling the rat. The warmer the rat, the more blood flows through the tail, and the more heat is lost (Thompson and Stevenson 1965, Little and Stoner 1968, Rand et al. 1965, Raman et al. 1987).
When the rat's body temperature drops, the tail vessels shrink in diameter -- called vasoconstriction -- thus restricting blood flow to the tail (Owens et al. 2002). Less blood flows into the tail for cooling, and body heat is conserved.
IF this is right, can I have No. 2 for Happy Landings, please?
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Post by Viv on Sept 8, 2006 19:18:09 GMT 1
The tail is correct Jutta See you all on Sunday for more interesting rat facts
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Post by petdesigns on Sept 9, 2006 6:48:56 GMT 1
YAY! At last I managed to be on here at the right time! (Our Dickerfield-rat told me the answer )
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Post by Old Dragon (Al) on Sept 10, 2006 17:42:35 GMT 1
Can anyone tell me which rescue won the remaining prizes, please? Thanks.
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